The Window
by CSINaomi
Summary: Jess OC from Southern California embarks on a bi-coastal mystery with, of course, a touch of romance... will she end up being hurt by the men who try to protect her before her stalker is captured?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is my first ever fic, so I look forward to seeing what you guys think of it... please read and review!! My deepest thanks to Paulina, my beta/editor/encourager... I couldn't do this without her.

**Disclaimer:** As with you all, I do not own CSI: Miami... others do and deserve all the props for them! I do however lay claim to Jessica Mitchell, Agent Charles Dewey and Jacob Evans.

_**Saturday, April 5, 2008; 10:05 AM, San Diego International Airport**_

'_Blast that woman!' _She had done it. With all the odds against her, with the help of the blasted FBI agent currently at her side, she had made the one connection he had hoped that she would never find. She had connected him to Miami. _'I suppose it had to happen someday. I'll be seeing you soon; my dear… looks like you will soon be meeting my old friends Caine and Tripp.'_

**Tuesday, March 18, 2008; 5:45 PM**

Crossing her arms, she stared out the window- the view never changed, but that didn't matter. She didn't see the smudge on the glass, nor the bush that partially blocked her view. In fact, she couldn't even describe it to you had you asked, since she had never really _seen_ it in all her years of looking. She didn't notice the newly made water paths on the dirt hill or the chain link fence, the grass of her neighbor's yard or the gardener trimming the fruit trees.

In some ways, this was not particularly odd. She never truly saw this view of her life. This window was her thinking place. She was not there to see the world; she was there to figure it out. Despite the unending futility of the process, she stood there daily, arms crossed as if she could somehow shut out the truth that surrounded her.

Jessica Mitchell, just Jess to her friends and colleagues, was a normally observant person. She knew the ladies that ran her local coffee shop; that one was out on maternity leave with twins – both boys – was not lost on her. She knew where her 'car twin' lived – two miles down Elm St., turn right. She could tell you the way her best friend felt about her sister-in-law's pregnancy though they had never spoken of it. She knew which cars belonged on her street and which ones did not.

But if someone were to ask Jess what was outside that window, she wouldn't have been able to answer. Of course, the answer would not have mattered much, since nobody ever asked. It was always assumed that she was just observing something – and she was always observing something, so it was just taken for granted that the window contained something to be seen.

The artist in her, the side of herself she had so long ignored, should have cried out to take in this view. This window framed the part of herself that Jess should have been most familiar with and still it never truly settled in her mind. This was, after all, her place – her space in time and reality that in her thoughts remained untouched.

Staring out a window for countless hours of her lifetime, Jess's ultimate irony was lost on her. That was her problem with looking, but never seeing – she assumed a certain security in the view, as if an invisible curtain was drawn over her life behind the window. She assumed that what passed before the window didn't matter, it almost did not exist. She was wrong, but still, to her, it was, after all, just a window. And so she thought, as she stared out the window into the cloudless Southern California day.


	2. Chapter 2

The Window

Chapter 2

_**Four weeks earlier (Wednesday, February 19, 2008; 11:46 AM)**_

As he discreetly watched her walk down the courthouse steps, Jacob could almost feel her frustration and disappointment. And he knew the cause. Though this was her third meeting with the district attorney this week, the lady detective was still no closer to convincing Mr. Robbins of Jacob's guilt. She was causing the District Attorney to lose his patience. This _meeting_ had only lasted fifteen minutes; she must have barely made it in the door.

He _knew_ she could not touch him. He had planned the perfect crime. The only thing he had miscalculated was her persistence, not that he could have known who would be assigned to investigate the robbery.

Jacob Evans loved to look back on his million dollar coup.

_He had picked the perfect partner. Brian had two strikes against him (under the California Three Strikes law his next felony would send him away for life), but he was greedy enough to be willing to risk it all for the chance at a big score._

'He was loyal, too,' Jacob chuckled to himself, 'loyal like that idiot dog we had in the old neighborhood. You could kick that thing 'til it couldn't breathe one day and the next it would still come over to lick your hand. I suppose there is always an idiot ready to be had, no matter the species.'

_Other than this little CSI, everything had worked out as planned. The bank manager, well, former bank manager – had folded so easily under Brian's blackmail. Of course, Jacob had done all of the research on that front; how convenient that the man had been quietly embezzling funds from his brother-in-law's company accounts. The simplicity of obtaining his security codes and keys, followed by his quiet elimination had almost been too easy. _

_The benefits of choosing a partner whose brain ran on fewer cylinders than your own was not lost on Jacob. Between internet cafes, public meeting places and disposable cell phones, Jacob had made himself fairly untraceable. These moves had allowed him to keep his hands _so_ clean. The blackmail, the robbery, both were entirely on Brian. And unfortunately for him, a few careless errors during the robbery had, in the end, cost Brian his freedom._

_Brian was purely motivated by greed and when given the slightest glimpse of more than the planned take, he simply could not resist. The safe deposit boxes were just too much of a lure and that is where the Woman had begun to suspect that there were more players in this story. Brian left his fingerprints all over the boxes. Blast! What was he thinking? His fingerprints were like a neon light to the San Diego Crime Scene Investigations team. The prints led the CSIs to his home, then his car. The car was the downfall because stupid, stupid Brian let himself be followed to the dump site of the manager _and_ had used his cell to call Jacob's home phone. _

_The phone call had been the beginning of Jacob's current problem. While the investigators were fairly convinced of his involvement, with only the phone call connecting him to Brian, the DA just had not seen his way clear to filing the co-conspirator charges. None of them knew that Brian had already transferred the robbery proceeds to Jacob's hands and if he had his way, none of them, even the ever-persistent female CSI on the case, ever would._

Bringing himself back to the present, Jacob watched as CSI Jess Mitchell paused to examine her surroundings before entering the parking lot and he quickly ducked behind his tree. It wouldn't do to be discovered by this nosey creature just yet. The beginnings of a plan to rid himself of this nuisance were taking shape in his mind and this time he would take care of the business himself.

_If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, _he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tuesday, March 18, 2008; 6:15 PM**

Jess couldn't put her finger on it. For almost a month now, her _window watching moments_ had been focused on one case… one all-consuming case.

DA Robbins considered the case closed. _Brian was 'their man'_, he'd promised her again on the phone today, frustration in his voice. His fingerprints were in the bank vault and he'd been caught dumping the body of the bank manager in the San Diego River. He had a record that included increasingly risky and violent robberies. And to top it all off, though he admitted to nothing, he had denied ever working with a partner. In Robbins' mind, there was no possible partner, despite Brian's desperate cell phone call… CASE CLOSED.

Still, regardless of the lawyer's assurances, Jess knew that there was something more to the last minute phone call. She had interviewed Brian three times and each time she was struck by two things. One, this man was lucky that he was even able to tie his shoes in the morning for he was almost certainly four bricks short of a load and therefore unable to plan such an elaborate scheme alone. And two, the phone call he had made to one Jacob Evans held the key to unlocking the mystery partnership she was certain existed. She just needed the proof.

Jess had been an integral part of the SDPD CSI team for four years now. Her Forensics training, as well as her specialization in Crime Scene Sketch and Photography, had brought her quickly to the top of her department and to the attention of federal investigators. Though her rank did not yet show it, she was the best observational crime scene detective in Southern California and her Commander knew it. When requested by Homeland Security in recent months for occasional 'loan outs' of his detectives, Jess' name always topped the list, landing her prime spots on lead Southwest Region Homeland Security CSI Agent Charles Dewey's team. Her skills were sharper now after three cases with Agent Dewey and on top of their automatic respect for one another, they had formed a strong working relationship, even what one might call a friendship.

Before she turned away from the window tonight, Jess made her decision, a very difficult and out of character decision that might cost her everything; she needed Agent Dewey's eyes on this case. Maybe someone who looked at major case files everyday would see what she could not. Yes, she would call him in the morning to request an off the record meeting.

And with that she turned to face her roommate for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wednesday, March 19, 2008; 8:15 AM**

Agent Charles Dewey had been a CSI for fifteen years and it never got any easier. The longer he was on the job, the more cases he covered and most importantly, the higher his profile became, the more difficult it was to face the pain on the victims faces each day. He knew there would come a day when one more crime scene would be just one too many. Currently, the only joy he faced was his short term southwest region placement and the opportunity to work with the up-and-coming local talent, namely CSI Jessica Mitchell.

Sitting at his desk in the middle of another long week, Jess was quite possibly the only bright spot he could think of at this point in his career. If only he could invent a case…

Charles' train of thought was interrupted by the vibrating of his cell phone as it bounced around on his desk.

'Dewey.'

'Hi, Agent Dewey. I don't know if you remember me, but this is San Diego CSI Jessica Mitchell.'

'You're kidding, right, Jess? You think I would forget you so quickly. And I thought that we had decided that you would call me Charles.' _Okay, it had been five weeks since they last worked together, but she had to be kidding, right?_

Jess could not be more thankful that there was a phone separating her and Agent Dewey… well, Charles… as she felt a blush quickly rising up her cheeks.

'Sorry, well… ummm… well… I was calling to see if I could possibly meet with you about a case. Strictly off the clock and personal, but I would really appreciate your input. I don't want to impose, but…'

'Jess, of course, I'd love to help. How about coffee later this afternoon? Would you be available at, say, four o'clock? Our usual _case spot_?'

'Yes, sir… that would be perfect. Thank you so very much. I'll see you this afternoon.'

Two very contradictory emotions battled in Jess' mind and face as she sat in her car at the Crime Lab parking lot. The first was relief – relief that the conversation with Agent Dew… _Charles_… was over and that he had agreed to meet her. The second was fear – fear that Charles would think her 'hunch' was just as silly as all the rest and, of course, fear that she was actually going to have to speak to him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Wednesday March 19, 2008; 8:25 AM at a café in downtown San Diego**

This place was a police stalker's paradise…directly across the street from the main entrance to the Crime Lab, kitty-corner to the department employees parking garage and with anonymous email access… not to mention a fairly acceptable Café Cubano. Jacob had discovered the location during the last four weeks of tracing CSI Jessica's movements and it had become his hole. Ironically, the police didn't frequent this particular coffee shop despite its proximity to them and though he wondered why, Jacob unwisely ignored that tiny bit of suspicious data.

The object of his interest made her appearance right on schedule. She had steadily become more skittish during the past month. She began looking over her shoulder occasionally and always walking between her car and headquarters with car keys and cell phone in hand. Oh, she knew something was wrong, but not what and he loved it. The thrill of the hunt had always inspired Jacob; it was when he did his best work.

_Something is different today, though. What could it be?_ His senses were in tune with the varied moods of his latest prey after so many days on her tail. _Was it possible that she knew he was watching her? No. She's… happy. What would make her happy? _There had been no outgoing calls from her condo last night. Of that he was certain. The training that he had received on the streets of Miami had drilled into him the vital importance of knowing and tracking your target. He would never again fail like he had there.

_Flashback: September 2002; Miami, Florida_

_At 19, Jacob thought that he had it all together. Basically raised by the "brotherhood" on the streets of Miami, he was well-versed in the intricacies of petty crime. Of course, he was smarter than most of his cohorts. Jacob did the back work, the hidden work, the work that he never got caught for. _

_In the convenience store robbery 3 years ago, he had been the information 'specialist'. Who would ever suspect a 16 year old candy bar fanatic in connection with a robbery-homicide?_

_In the car-jacking gone completely wrong last spring, he was the 'stop'… the lead car that _accidentally_ slammed on his breaks before the jacking. Because of the idiots he'd worked with, there had been no cashing in on that event… who actually fires the gun in a car-jacking? A simple, stupid car-jacking. But with no street facing cameras and no eye-witnesses, he hadn't even been considered a person of interest._

_This time was different though. The lead investigator on this case had brought him in twice for questioning and his icy blue eyes had left Jacob chilled to the bone. _

_Once again, Jacob had been on the outside of this crime – an armored truck robbery at the end of the day in front of a low security office building. He'd built the timeline by quietly tailing the truck for weeks to fully understand its route. He'd set up the location, the action plan, the drop zone and the team. And he'd made the rules, but, being 19 and therefore rather unskilled in his approach, he had forgotten something. He'd given the team his personal cell phone number on the day of the robbery – just for emergencies._

_Of course, just his luck, an emergency had come up. The call transmission had been choppy at best. _

"The … cars …too soon. The … followed to… location." _And then the line had gone dead. Of course, that was all the information he needed to high-tail it back to his alibi, his perfectly terrified girlfriend._

_Lt. Horatio Caine, the new Miami-Dade County Crime Lab head, and his team had quickly tracked their red-handed suspects' last cell phone call to Jacob, but, as coached, none of them were giving Caine enough information to piece together the actual conversation. By all accounts, even that oaf of a Texan Tripp, there was no solid way to connect Jacob to the armored truck robbery or the resulting deaths of the armored truck drivers. _

_No matter what the instincts of the red-headed investigator said, Jacob was, for the moment, untouchable and even at 19, he wasn't stupid enough to stay in Miami-Dade County a moment longer than the investigation took. Jacob was headed out west to restart his… career._

Bringing himself back to the present, Jacob slowly opened his paper. There was nothing to do but wait until she left the Lab again. Sadly, he had yet to find a way to track her inside that fortress of a building.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wednesday, March 19, 2008; 3:55 PM**

His head snapped up quickly as the bell over the café door rang, greeting a tall man, appearing only as a shadow in the mid-afternoon sunshine. Jacob was jumpy though, and the noise caused him to spill part of his fifth cubano across his paper. The fact that it was his fifth cubano played a role in his sudden movement as well. Bringing attention was the last thing Jacob wanted, but immediately all eight eyes in the café was upon him, including those of the imposing new patron.

Charles was surprised by the sudden actions of the gentleman in the corner of the café; his trained eyes immediately taking in the character as he responded to the spilled coffee on his paper.

_Interesting…I wonder what is going on with him. _He thought.The dangers of being a law enforcement officer had been more and more apparent to Charles in recent weeks; he was increasingly suspicious of all those around him, including now, this poor stranger in the coffee shop where he was to meet Jess. _Well, back to my business. What to order?? Hmmm. Well, easily a Café Cubano for me and… the same for Jess, I think she would like and need something strong at this point in the afternoon._

Jacob could not believe his carelessness. Being inattentive was a mistake that he was unwilling to let ruin his plan to eliminate the threat of his CSI _enemy_. Now he had to recover his own dignity and determine if he had made any serious errors.

_Okay, only one new patron to examine. Let's see here… the tall man at the counter is the only new – uh oh. I have seen him before. Where, though? Blast!!_

Identifying the man should never have taken this long. He knew where he had seen Mr. Tall before now, on a scene with Jess! This would never do; a quick exit was his only option at this point.

Of course, during his pondering, Jacob's exit was becoming increasingly complicated.

Glancing out the window to look for any hindrances on that front, Jacob saw her, Jessica Mitchell, walking quickly across the plaza between the Lab and the café. There was no time for thinking now. He grabbed his dripping paper, slipped on his sunglasses and hat, jumped up and headed for the door.

_I can do this. It's just a business meeting… well, not technically a business meeting, but still… I can do this. It's just Agent… I mean, Charles… remember to call him Charles._ Jess' internal conversation kept her entirely preoccupied until she was about to enter _their_ café; _their café_ because none of her colleagues could stand up to the strength of a Café Cubano.

She was so distracted that she almost ran over the sunglassed character exiting the café in front of her. His paper covered most of his face and simultaneously dripped coffee on her white button-up as they brushed past each other. Jess attributed the tremor in her hand as she reached for the door to her upcoming meeting; the coffee would come out of her shirt later.


	7. Chapter 7

**Wednesday, March 19, 2008; 3:58 PM**

Charles' head popped up as the bell over the café door rang once again. His smile was involuntary at the sight of Jess and he quickly waved her over to their table in the back corner.

'You're early, but, then again, so am I. I ordered us both a cubano; I sure hope that's o… oh, Jess, what happened to your shirt?' He realized he was babbling, but could not seem to stop the words from spilling forth.

'Thank you, Ag… Charles.' _I can't believe I almost called him "Agent Dewey", Jess thought to herself._ 'A cubano is exactly what I need at this point in the day. I spent most of the morning processing photos from yesterday's crime scene. It may not be strenuous, but it is certainly straining to examine a murder scene so closely.'

'And the shirt?'

'Nothing, absolutely nothing. I wasn't paying attention when the last customer came out of the café just now. By the way, thank you for meeting with me. I really appreciate the extra set of eyes.' _Breathe, Jessica, breathe._

'Not a problem. Now what seems to be the trouble?'

Neither Jess nor Charles was a master in the art of small talk. They were in the business of problem solving, their personalities built for analyzing the pieces and putting together a puzzle. This made them excellent forensic specialists and socially challenged communicators. Charles, like Jess, had few friends outside of his colleagues. And Jess, like Charles, had little time left in her life outside of her work. They were criminalists; thankfully, that worked to their benefit in communications with each other.

'Well… ummm… well, do you remember that major bank robbery-homicide from almost five weeks ago?' At his nod, she continued. 'I was one of the CSIs assigned to the case. It ended up breaking rather quickly because the suspect left his prints all over the crime scene and had a lengthy criminal record already in the system. DA Robbins filed charges four weeks ago on Brian and closed the case.'

'I'm a little bit confused, Jess. What seems to be the trouble if the case is already closed?'

'The problem is that I believe we only captured the… ummm… well, the puppet, for lack of a better word. Brian just doesn't seem capable of planning and carrying out this type of job independently. His priors are all really basic – holding up a convenience store and assaulting the clerk and simple car-jacking, for example. This job was planned. I mean, it was REALLY planned. Kidnapping the manager, knowing the best time of day to hit the bank, even where he planned to dump the manager's body… it's all too clean. On top of that, we've never recovered the one million dollars that was taken from the bank and Brian made a phone call right before he was captured that I just cannot explain.'

'Seems to me like you have pretty good reasons for reopening the case…'

Listening to her talk, Charles remembered why he liked working with Jess Mitchell – she never let anything just slide by her in the evidence, just like him. Of course, just like his usually did, he guessed that her persistence was causing her superiors more than a little grief.

'That is exactly my problem. My gut tells me that it is the guy Brian called a Jacob Evans who is more involved in this than the preliminary evidence suggested; I just cannot figure out how. On top of that…'

'No one believes you.' He finished for her.

All Jess could do for a moment was look up at Charles in stunned silence. Then she wrapped her hands around her mug and gave him a quiet smile.

'Exactly.'

'I've been there before, Jess, so I completely understand. Now, what exactly can I do to help?'

'You know that technically I can't ask you for help, Charles.'

He nodded again, so she continued. 'My trouble is this. I never had the opportunity to check other jurisdictions for similar MOs modus operandi connected, not with Brian, but with Jacob Evans.'

When he opened his mouth to speak, she held up a shaking hand, her eyes pleading for him to let her continue. 'Before you respond, you should know one more thing. Over the last four weeks, since the case closed and I started pushing for more information, I have been unable to shake the feeling that I'm being watched. In all likelihood, I am just being silly, but it is something I cannot ignore, especially until I find out more about this Jacob character.'

_Oh, Jess._ He stretched his hand across the table and gently wrapped it around hers on her mug. After several seconds, which felt like eternity to Jess, he let go with a smile and a light squeeze.

'I am so sorry, Jess. Please let me help on this. And, don't say it… I already know that the case is closed, that you think there is something dangerous about Jacob and that we could both get into career trouble if we pursue this. Sounds to me like your gut is right, though, so it is worth the risk, don't you think?'

She laughed. And Charles thought, _I really like hearing that sound; she doesn't laugh nearly enough._

'Good. Now, what you will do next is nothing… my guess is that the DA is already pretty upset with you as it is.' Jess giggled again. 'I'm going to make a few calls when I get back to the office. There are a couple of my contacts in major cities that may be willing to help without raising too many flags in the department. Hopefully, that will get us somewhere.'

'This isn't your problem-case, Charles. I don't want you to ge…'

'I just volunteered, Jess. Now, I have a meeting in a little while, so how about I give you a call tomorrow afternoon after I hear back from my contacts?'

As they both stood, Jess drained the last drops of liquid strength from her mug and nodded. 'Sounds like a plan. I cannot begin to thank you for this…'

'Like I said before, Jess – I volunteered.'

_I'll speak with you tomorrow_ were the last words she heard as they both stepped out into the warmth of the California sunshine.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thursday, March 20, 2008; 8:03AM EST; Miami-Dade Crime Lab**

Placing his hands on his hips, he stared out the window. The view never changed, but that didn't matter. Looking out of _this _window, he saw the face of their last victim, the look of hatred on Ron Saris' face as the cuffs were placed on his wrists and the hope in the eyes of the abducted child the team had rescued yesterday. He knew that the criminals would always find new cruelties to inflict, that there would always be victims to fight for and, staring out on the city that he loved, that his job in Miami would never end.

_Knock, knock._

Horatio did not even turn away from the window as he called a brisk 'Enter' to whoever it was at the door.

'Morning, handsome. I brought your messages up for you; you must have come in early.'

Calleigh Duquesne, his ever-reliable 'Bullet Girl', strode confidently through the doorway of his private office and placed the pink message slips on top of his paperwork. Feeling her presence as she came to join him at the window, he tilted his head slightly in her direction and continued to toy with the sunglasses in his hand.

'Couldn't sleep.' He stated simply.

She nodded. Her boss had not been quite the same since he returned from his last _"trip"_ to Brazil. The extradition for Antonio Riaz's murder had been challenging for the entire team, but, of course, hardest on him. And in his typical style, Horatio would speak of what had transpired in Rio with no one, though all had tried. _Oh, my, if I could only get inside the head of this man… maybe I could fix a few of his other little notions while I was in there. _Calleigh's southern accent was always accentuated in her internal thoughts.

'Oh, okay. Jen, the night desk clerk, said to tell you that she put the most interesting of the bunch on top. She mentioned something about a Homeland Security agent from California. I thought it was weird, but figured you would know who it was.'

Having turned back to the window, he just nodded. 'Assemble the team in my office in twenty to go over the assignments for today, please, Ms. Duquesne.'

'Absolutely, H. We'll see you then.' With a swing of her long blonde hair, she was out the door.

Thankfully hearing the click of the door as Calleigh closed it behind her, Horatio ran a hand through his hair tiredly. _What could the Feds want now? Last time they spoke with me it was to inform me of trumped up reasons to extradite me to Brazil. These 'law enforcement agents' are becoming a major pain in my…_ He stopped his train of thought abruptly; dwelling on it would not change the messages sitting behind him, so he turned around and walked toward his desk.

_Attn: Lt. Horatio Caine_

_Caller: Agent Charles Dewey, Department of Homeland Security, CSI_

_Phone Number: (619)555-0011_

_RE: Possible unsolved case link with San Diego office; please respond ASAP_

Unsolved cases haunted him. Unsolved cases meant that victims and their families had no closure. Unsolved cases meant that criminals had succeeded. Unsolved cases meant that Horatio Caine had failed.

In recent years, the Miami-Dade Crime Lab had become the most successful in the nation with the highest _solve rate_. There was rarely an instance in which time and persistence on the part of Caine's team did not pay off. They were tenacious. He had built this team from the ground up and they had become more than individual criminalists – they had become a family, one very dangerous family for the criminals of Miami.

So an unsolved case was a rarity… an unacceptable rarity.

Recognizing the importance of this message, Horatio unclipped his cell from his belt, walked back to the window and dialed this Agent Dewey's number because wherever this area code was, ASAP on an unsolved meant _call anytime_ to Horatio Caine.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thursday, March 20, 2008; 6:15 AM PST**

_Ring._ Thank goodness… _Ring._ …for caffeine. _Ring. _ 'Dewey.'

'Agent Dewey, this is Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Miami-Dade PD. I am returning your call from last night.'

'Oh, yes, thank you so much for your expediency on this topic, Lt. Caine. And please, call me Charles.'

'Alright, Charles, so how may I be of service to you? Your message indicates that this concerns a possible unsolved case; you must realize that there are not many of those in my county.'

Charles was surprised by the rather crisp tone of the man at the other end of the line as he glanced at the clock. Rubbing his eyes, he realized that it was just after six o'clock in the morning in San Diego, which would make it… he paused his thoughts for the brief calculation… it would be nine in the morning in Miami. _Well, it certainly is not fatigue on Caine's part that is causing the friction in this conversation._

'In all honesty, sir, it is due to that fact and the similarities between your city and San Diego that you are at the top of my list in this case. My inclination is that our suspect has a certain comfort work zone that he enjoys, including wealthy client targets in a beach community. It is also my guess that he has been suspected but never firmly tied to at least one crime in his previous arena. I am hoping that you would be willing to put one of your men on a brief search combining our suspect name and MO.'

Horatio liked to think of himself as a typically agreeable person, though IAB Detective Rick Stetler might have begged to disagree. He was fairly certain that his team liked him and he certainly considered them to be his family. But in the last few years, between an FBI _spy_ being sent in to investigate his lab, a shroud of mystery surrounding his brother Ray's faked death and his own most recent run-in with federal agents, Horatio was growing tired of Federal _suits_ interfering in his CSI team operations. Though he did not know this Agent Charles Dewey, this morning he was certainly not inclined to make things simple for the man.

'I would like to know if this is an order to open my cases to you, sir.' Horatio could not keep the chill out of his tone.

'No, Lt. Caine, this is entirely off the record. In fact, I would prefer to keep this information as quiet and personal as possible. I am simply inquiring on behalf of a local CSI here in San Diego.'

'I see.' This was not the response that he had expected to his icy and questioning tone. 'I can put one of my men on it this morning', Horatio agreed, 'and we would be able to get back to you in about three hours, if that would be acceptable.'

Charles let out a silent breathe as the Lt.'s tone changed dramatically in his agreement; somehow, he had slipped passed the Miami leader's defenses.

'That would be wonderful, sir; faster than I had imagined in fact. I truly appreciate your assistance in this research.' Reaching for his personal investigation notebook, Charles quickly passed off the pertinent facts to Lt. Caine. 'Your detective will be able to get back to me with the results then, Lt.?'

'Yes. You should expect a call from my CSI Ryan Wolfe later this morning or early this afternoon.'

'Thank you very much, sir. I'll be expecting his call.'

'You are welcome, Charles. And you can call me Horatio.' Closing his phone, Horatio sighed and began to prepare for his team meeting.

_**11:56 AM PST**_

'_I have it, H. I don't believe it, but I have it.'_

'_Good job, Mr. Wolfe. You know what to do.'_

Ryan dialed the federal agent's phone number that Horatio had handed him in the morning meeting much to the surprise of the entire team. Working with outsiders, especially Feds was something that each one of them had become quite wary of in recent years. His own destructive patterns with reporter Erika Sykes had left him to re-earn the trust of his teammates and re-train himself to read the civilians he interacted with every day.

'Dewey.'

The sound of a voice startled Ryan's mind out of its wanderings. 'Ah… ummm… Agent Dewey, this is CSI Ryan Wolfe, Miami. My lieutenant, Horatio Caine, told me that you would be expecting my call, sir.'

'Excellent. Yes, Mr. Wolfe; it is my hope that you are calling me with good news about my unsolved.' Charles held his breathe, waiting anxiously for the information that Horatio had promised him.

'Well, sir, it appears that we… ummm… we have a case that is incredibly similar here in Miami, dated September 2002. I searched by your suspect name and immediately matched to this case. Would you like me to give you an outline over the phone?'

'Please, Mr. Wolfe.'

'As in your case, this one remains open. Suspect name – Jacob Evans. It was an armored truck robbery and it appears that five others were apprehended while fleeing the scene. None would finger an outside coordinator, but the case notes… this is interesting actually… the case notes by Horatio Caine state that during interviews, they appeared incapable of the planning complexity required to pull off such a heist. There is also a note about a cell phone call received by Mr. Evans from the suspects immediately before their capture. There is more here, sir, but it might be more beneficial for you to look at this yourself to compare it to the San Diego case notes.'

Charles let out a breath that he hadn't realized he was still holding. Miami had, in all honesty, been a guess. While he sounded self-assured during his conversation with Jess and later during his call with Lt. Caine, Charles knew deep inside that he was running blind. The chances of finding a case to case connection somewhere across the nation in one day was minimal, to say the least.

'You are probably right. Could you please fax them to the Dept. of Homeland Security Office, Southwest Region with attention to me as soon as possible?'

'Absolutely, sir. May I ask what you plan to do with this information?' Ryan's curiosity was peaked after discovering his boss's name on the six year old case file.

'Right now, I am not exactly certain, Mr. Wolfe, but I will certainly be in contact with your office again very soon. Excellent work, by the way.'

'Thank you, Agent Dewey. We will look forward to hearing from you.'

Both investigators hung up with a sense of accomplishment. Neither had anticipated finding any connection between open cases on opposite ends of the country. This was an exciting prospect to say the least.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thursday, March 20, 2008; 12:30 PM PST**

Jess rubbed the back of her gloved hand across her forehead, as she stretched her back. Hours of lifting latent prints from construction site pipes had left her eyes tired and her body aching. Thankfully she was almost ready to let AFIS do the rest of the work for her.

AFIS is the acronym for the U.S. national Automated Fingerprint Identification System. With the program's help, CSIs and other law enforcement agents can search for suspects to connect to a crime scene, rather than waiting to find the suspect before attempting to connect them to a crime scene.

As she prepared the computer at her work station to run her latest set of prints, Jess hoped that the results would pop up on the screen sooner, rather than later. Waiting was her least favorite part of her job.

Suddenly the chirping of her cell phone interrupted the quiet of the print lab. _Oops! I forgot to mute my phone when I came into the office this morning._ Snatching the offending object off of the desk, she answered quickly.

'Hi, this is Jess Mitchell.'

'Jess, it is Charles. The Lieutenant of the Miami-Dade Crime Lab came through for us right away. We have our connection.'

'N…n….no way.' The computer screen in front of Jess went out of focus as a surprised daze came over her.

'Yes way,' Charles teased. 'Any chance you can get away for lunch? I would recommend that we not discuss this while you are in the lab.' _Okay, so I am pushing it. Lunch is not really necessary; she could just step outside of the building, but then seeing her would be out of the question._

She hated this feeling; the trapped feeling that came over her every time another person recommended a social outing. No amount of reasoning could slow the now rapid beating of her heart or the shallowness of her breathing. The irony was that her job required personal interactions every single day. But reassurance and encouragement from her mother and her best friend could not even convince Jessica Mitchell that social interaction outside of work was bound to end in pain – her pain.

_He is making sure that no more trouble is created for me,_ she reminded herself._ This is a business lunch. This is a business lunch._ This became her mantra as she said, 'Ah… ummmm… yes, Charles, that sounds like a great idea. I have prints running through AFIS, so I can definitely get away from the lab for a while. When and where would you like to meet?' Jess took a deep breath, finally.

'Do you know that hole-in-the-wall Mexican place Adalberto's in Point Loma?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Let's meet there in twenty minutes, okay, Jess?'

'Yep. See you then.' Her tone, followed by her quick hang up, left Charles wondering if he would actually see the beautiful detective any time soon.

Grabbing her purse, Jess left the crime lab with a quick wave and cursory explanation to her Lt.

Jacob glanced at his watched. _12:37._ From his perch atop the downtown parking garage, he watched his mark, Jessica Mitchell, exit the San Diego Crime Lab. She had her purse with her indicating that she was not headed to a crime scene. And she was cutting across the plaza toward the parking garage.

_Fascinating. What is this woman doing now?_

After her mystery meeting with Mr. Tall in the café yesterday, Jacob had rapidly changed his surveillance plans. Thus he had discovered the current parking lot rooftop location for observing his _prey_ and the rust bucket Honda he now drove instead of his beloved, yet noticeable, red Mustang. He did not like to be caught off guard and his CSI's behavior was becoming more mysterious by the hour.

Unwilling to risk losing her in downtown lunch-hour traffic, Jacob slid into his car, turned over the engine and slowly started driving down to the third level of the lot, where he had seen her park her car at two minutes until eight this morning. His timing was perfect. She was just slipping the car into reverse as he approached her position, slowed and let her back out in front of him. _Maybe this won't be so difficult after all._

Driving her hometown's busy streets was never Jess' dream lunch break, but this was unavoidable. Her most direct route to her dreaded meeting with Charles led her down the busiest streets of the harbor district and she had no desire to be late. Preoccupation limited her focus and, though she was able to drive safely to her destination, observation of her surroundings was a low priority. She failed to notice the beat up car that was quite obviously following her to the restaurant.

All Jess could do was focus on her mantra… _this is a business lunch_... all the way to her favorite burrito shop.

He knew her destination as soon as they entered the Point Loma area. Why she was there for lunch he could not answer, but she frequented this shabby little shop for dinner on a regular basis. He slowed his car to a crawl, much to the annoyance of the lunch-time travelers behind her.

Examining the parking lot, his eyes lit upon a problem. Mr. Tall was waiting for her at the door. _There are only two options_, he thought. _The first is that they are dating. Ha… not likely, no one would want to be with his mousy prey. The second is that they are working on something hidden, something they did not want their colleagues to see._

Jacob's only choice of reaction was risky. He needed to be inside with them. He needed to hear what exactly they are talking about.

Pulling around to the back of the block, Jacob took a deep breath, put on his hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses, and took the first steps that would change the tone of his pursuit.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thursday, March 20, 2008; 12:56 PM PST**

Charles greeted Jess with a smile in the parking lot and then turned through the door with her to go order their lunches. Neither spoke to the other until they were seated at a table in the far corner, snacking on fresh tortilla chips.

'Agent… ummm… Charles, you said on the phone that someone in Miami had connected with my case. That seems like a long way for this guy to have traveled.'

_Of course, she would start right into the serious business before I have eaten. Someday I will have to teach her about that phrase 'all work and no play'… ha._ 'Yes, Jess. The Miami Crime Lab has connected one of their open cases with ours. I hate to admit it, but Miami was really a guess on my part. It seemed like a pretty good place to start.'

'You found the connection on your first call?' Jess was mystified by the man sitting across from her. _Who guesses when it comes to a criminal investigation? I thought he had a plan._

Hearing their order numbers being called, he nodded briefly and stood to retrieve their lunches. He hoped that a short break would take the wonderment out of her voice, as it was not doing good things to his ego. Charles hated to admit it, but impressing Jessica Mitchell had moved up his priority list considerably since yesterday. Right now, it sat just below satisfying the intense hunger he was feeling.

Jess took a moment to clear her head slightly now that Charles was away from the table. _I really thought he had a plan. I could have called random cities out of the Crime Lab Directory! Okay, deep breaths, girl, he's coming back._

Charles sat their Styrofoam containers on the table and returned the tray to the counter. He was grateful that Jess was not the type of woman to nibble her way through the day. Her order of the carne asada burrito made that fact perfectly clear. _One more item to add to my reasons to like Jess Mitchell list…_

'So, with whom are we working and what does their case look like? Is it old? Did you get the Miami case file?' Jess' mind was filled with so many questions that she just let them spill out as she cut her burrito in half and added spicy red salsa to one side. She did not even glance up to notice Charles casting his eyes between her and the door.

Finally realizing that he hadn't responded, Jess lifted her face to look at his.

His brown eyes held a mixture of confusion and recognition as he inspected the man now ordering his lunch at the counter. She let her eyes wander to join his, shrugged her shoulders and then waved a hand in front of his face.

'Is everything alright, Charles?'

He started. 'Oh, uh – yes. Do you recognize that guy?'

Jess looked again. The man's back was to her; his build average; his clothing, though slightly warm for the day, were typical Southern California apparel. She could tell that his sunglasses were still on, but that could just mean he was getting his meal to go. 'He could be anyone,' she shrugged again.

'I suppose.' Charles answered, and then he took a gigantic bite of his chimichanga, knowing that Jess was right at the edge of peppering him with more questions than he could answer before he had eaten. To further head off her questions, he slid the case file out of his laptop bag and across the table.

She smiled; his heart squeezed slightly. The man by the door turned his head so that he had a better view of the couple.

Jacob shifted slightly in the seat he had taken near the door. The lunch rush had left this establishment already, which while adding to his ability to hearing, impaired his ability to hide. Luckily, he just needed enough information to figure out what these idiots' meeting was about and he could leave.

He had heard almost enough to piece the information together. _"Working… their case… old… Miami." Miami? _

Jacob's muscles tensed as he tried to stop his natural reaction to turn around to face Ms. Mitchell. Thankfully, he did not for the next snippets were about 'that guy' and since no other males were left in the establishment, he assumed they were discussing him. Their conclusion ended up being a lack of recognition, but Jacob hated close calls.

More than close calls, though, Jacob hated the idea that Mr. Tall and this girl were on to him. Seeing the red case folder slide across the table out of the corner of his eye, he had to shift slightly to see her reaction to its contents.

"_Where have I heard the name Horatio Caine?" She asked innocently._

"_He and his team lead the nation's crime labs in solve rate for their cases. He has spoken at a few conferences in the last few years, though he usually sends one of his team members to the National Forensic Sciences Conference. Caine is supposed to be one of the best criminologists in the country."_

He realized his error immediately. In an awkward restaurant moment of silence, Jacob gasped loudly at the sound of Caine's name. The entire restaurant turned to face him. The women in the booth closest to him quickly resumed their gossip, their lunch hour too precious to waste on a gasping man. But it was the eyes glued on him from across the room that sent a chill up his spine.

Jacob had been found out.

**1:14 PM PST**

After staring at the gasping man for a moment, Charles turned to Jess. 'It's the guy from the café yesterday; the one that spilled his coffee and then ran into you.'

Simultaneously, Jess squeaked, 'That is Jacob Evans.'

Seconds ticked by like minutes as they stared at one another. Both knew the ramifications of their discovery. Jacob Evans was following one or both of them and now he knew that they had proceeded with the investigation of him. He knew that he had been connected with Miami.

Reaching to his side, Charles drew his 9mm and aimed it at Evans. He knew in a moment that he was too late because in the time that it had taken him and Jess to connect the dots, Jacob had drawn a knife and grabbed one of the women by the door.

'Gun down, Tall-man. And put your cell on the table, Ms. Mitchell.' He said as he held the knife to the frightened woman's throat. 'If either of you move, she dies, and we all know that you don't want that to happen.'

Charles looked into the hostage's eyes as he lowered his weapon and waved his left hand at Jess for her to discard her cell phone. 'Come on, Evans. You and I both know you don't want to do this.'

'You know nothing about me, Mr. Tall. Funny thing is that without that little mouse behind you, you would not even know my name.' Jacob's laughter sounded hollow as it echoed through the restaurant. 'Now… I am going to go out this door with this _lovely_ woman here. You all are going to sit tight until she comes back. Anyone moves she dies; do I make myself clear?'

Charles nodded, responding for the group. He realized that the restaurant had three walls of windows and plenty of clear avenues of escape once the building was exited. He wanted to catch this creep, but not at the cost of the young woman in front of him.

'Oh, and before I leave… Ms. Mitchell, that's a lovely shade of rose that you have selected for your bath towels. It complements your skin perfectly.'

Jess shook with a sob as Jacob backed out the door, pulling the trembling woman along with him.

He continued walking backward up the side street, away from traffic, but still with a clear line of sight into the taco shop. He paused at a rusty blue car and then pushed the woman down into the middle of the street, as he hopped in and started the vehicle. Jacob gunned the engine made a right turn toward the multitude of freeways that crossed San Diego and sped out of sight.


	12. Chapter 12

Thursday, March 20, 2008; 1:18 PM PST

**Thursday, March 20, 2008; 1:18 PM PST**

Jogging toward the door with his gun raised, Charles glanced back over his shoulder at Jess.

'Go… just go, Charles!' She may have been shaking and even crying, but there was a victim lying on the pavement outside and the suspect… she grabbed her phone off of the table.

'Dispatch, this is CSI Jessica Mitchell. I need an APB put out on Jacob Evans 5'11" brown hair approximately 30 years old; last seen at 8210 Rosecrans Boulevard, Point Loma driving an early model blue Honda with no license plate and wearing tan board shorts and a hooded grey sweatshirt. I also need you to send units and a Crime Scene Unit (CSU), preferably not my own… oh, and rescue to my location as well. Is that all clear?'

'_Yes, ma'am. I have the APB posted, units, CSU and rescue en route to 8210 Rosecrans. Do you need me to stay on the line Detective Mitchell?'_

'No, thank you. I'm going to be a little busy.'

Charles scanned the parking lot quickly before opening the door. The only sounds he could hear outside the door were the traffic on Rosecrans and crying. _Wait… crying. The suspect can wait, victims come first._

'Ma'am… ma'am, can you open your eyes? My name is Agent Charles Dewey. Now I don't want you to move just yet… well, other than opening your eyes if you can.' He smiled to himself as her eyes fluttered. _Good, she is waking. Now I doubt that Evans is going to return, but I need to remain focused until backup arrives. I sure hope that Jess pulled it together enough to call in backup._

'Aahhhhh. Ummm… what?' She tried to sit up.

'No, no, no. No moving just yet, ma'am. I am unsure if you heard me before, but my name is Charles, Agent Charles Dewey. I was inside the restaurant with you. What is your name?'

'Ummm… o-okay. I… my name is Bethany, Bethany Carlisle. What… oh my, where is he?' She struggled again.

'It is okay, Bethany. It is going to be okay. The man is gone. Did he hurt you anywhere?' She closed her eyes again. 'Oh, no, Bethany; no going back to sleep on me now.'

He knelt down beside her, using the back of his hand to check her breathing. Her eyes flew open as she sensed his hand in front her face. Charles started.

'I am not passing out, Agent; I am thinking about the traumatic event that just happened and if I am in fact injured.' She rolled her eyes. 'I would have thought the title of Agent came with an ounce of calm attached to it.'

'I would guess that you did not think of any major injuries, considering your quick wit.' Sirens sounded on the Boulevard. _Jess took care of things; thank goodness!_ 'Either way, I still need you to remain still until the paramedics check you out, okay?' She nodded. 'Maybe you can answer one other question for me while we wait for them to arrive.'

'Okay. I am not sure what I can tell you; I have never seen that psycho before.'

'I thought not. No, I am wondering if the man said anything to you, before he tossed you on the pavement, that is.'

She closed her eyes again; this time he knew she was thinking.

'He had the knife to my throat… thanks for not shooting me, by the way. Then we left out the door. Right before we arrived at the car, he started talking.' She paused, breathing deeply as she relived the experience in her mind. 'Let's see. _Tell them this is not over. Jess is much too innocent to suffer through my plans for her if she continues to pursue me. _Who is Jess anyways?'

Paramedics rushed over to their location and tried to push Charles out of the way. He held fast though. In this instance, time was of the essence.

'Jess is the woman I was having lunch with. Did he say anything else, Bethany? This is very important.'

'Ah, the pretty one. No, he didn't. He just pushed me down and got in the car. The next thing I remember is you beside me, which is not a bad view to wake up to, by the way.' She grimaced as she tried to laugh.

Chagrined, he smiled slightly as he stood. 'Thanks for your help, Bethany. I will let these gentlemen take care of you now. Someone from the SDPD will be down to take your statement, I am certain, but thank you for giving me this information ahead of time.'

'No worries. I was just lying around anyways.' She smiled as he backed away.

Jess took a deep breath and turned to face the restaurant patrons, revealing the badge at her hip as she moved.

'Ladies, if you are anything like me, then that scared you a lot.' The women laughed shakily. 'My friend is going to take of the young lady that was taken by Mr. Evans, so you and I are going to work together, okay?'

They nodded. The eldest spoke first. 'Is Bethany going to be okay? Why would he grab her like that?'

'I am confident that Agent Dewey is going to take very good care of your friend out there. And as for why, I wish I could tell you. Right now, I need you to stand up and follow me outside. Please try not to touch anything on your way. I will open the door for us. Everyone ready?'

'Can we take our purses?' The only brunette in the group questioned quietly.

'Not right now. I am certain that those will be released by the police rather quickly though. Does anyone else have any questions?' The ladies shook their heads and Jess led them out the door just as the first police unit pulled into the parking lot, lights flashing.

Jess felt like she was going to be sick; the last 20 minutes came rushing into her mind and she turned quickly, searching the parking lot for the only face that could currently soothe her. Her world began to go black just as his confident stride came into view.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** I'd love to hear your opinions on this story, so please be kind, don't rewind... just read and REVIEW!! :)

**Friday, March 21, 2008; 11:30 AM PST**

Jess blinked her eyes slowly. Her surroundings were unfamiliar and she felt as though she had been sleeping for too long. Blinking again, the fog in her mind slowly cleared and she realized several things at the same time. _I am not at home. My head really hurts… a lot. Someone – maybe several someones – are in the room with me._

'Wh…' She swallowed slowly. 'What is going on? Where am I?'

'Hey there, Jess. Nice of you to join us.' Charles walked to the head of the bed from the doorway where he had been talking with Jess' doctor and smiled. 'To answer your questions, you are in the hospital. The stress of yesterday afternoon at Adalberto's caused you to pass out, but I was unable to catch you before you hit your head on the curb. You stirred once briefly in the middle of the night, but this is the first time that you have opened your eyes in… well, in about 20 hours. The doctor wants to check you out here, but then I will be right back, okay?'

'The doctor told you I stirred in the middle of the night; how did he know that, Charles?'

Charles dipped his head. 'I was here.' Then he turned and gestured to the doctor. 'I am in the hallway if you need me, Sir.'

'Good morning, Ms. Mitchell. You took quite a bump on the head yesterday. We were a bit worried about you for a while, but it seems like your body thought that you needed some rest after all of your excitement.'

'Doctor… ummm, did I forget your name, sir?'

'My apologies, my dear. Your friend has filled us in on what you have been going through, so it feels as though I already know you. I am Dr. Cameron, Chief Neurologist here at Scripps Memorial. While we have certainly been glad to have you as our guest, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance eye-to-eye.' He laughed at his own private humor.

'Well, thank you for taking care of me, Dr. Cameron. Can I leave now?'

'Funny, my dear. No, you will be with us until this evening at the earliest. I am going to order a second CT scan to make sure that there is still no swelling around your injury. Are you in pain?'

Jess shook her head, lying. It must have been clear on her face.

'I will take that as a yes. I am going to order oral pain medications for you this morning, since you seem so anxious to leave our lovely facility.' She grimaced. 'Never fear; I am not easily offended, but I do expect your honesty with me. I cannot have the gentleman in the hallway hunting me down if I fail to give you proper care.'

'Charles threatened you?' She was shocked.

'No, he did not threaten me, but this is the first time that I have been able to convince him to leave your side since you were admitted. Having slept in our chairs myself, I can tell you that the man did not sleep well.' With that, Dr. Cameron chuckled and turned to leave the room. 'Oh, my dear, I beg you to please page the nurses if you are in pain.'

She smiled at him and he left.

Charles paced. Then he rolled his shoulders. His 6'3" frame did not fit easily into waiting room chairs and he now knew from experience that attempting to sleep in them was a major error in judgment. Dr. Cameron and almost every nurse on the floor had tried to convince him to go home last night. The SDPD Chief had even called him to say that a protection unit could be placed in the wing for CSI Mitchell, if Charles wanted to rest. They were all very kind in their offers, but he had no intention of letting that maniac Jacob Evans get anywhere near Jess again, even if it meant that he did not sleep until Evans was caught.

'Agent Dewey.' The doctor smiled thoughtfully. _The man does not even realize that he loves her yet. Incredible._ 'Ms. Mitchell is one tough cookie. We are going to run a second CT scan to check for any swelling from her bump on the head in a little while. Assuming that we can get her pain managed orally, I do not think I will be able to hold her down in that bed past eight o'clock this evening.'

Charles laughed. 'No, sir, I would imagine not. Will there be any problems due to the length of time that she was unconscious?'

'I do not believe so. Because of her movement during the night and her mental alertness this morning, I believe that her body was just healing itself for us. Now, I have some doctor's orders for you also, young man.'

'I have no injuries; the paramedics made certain of that yesterday.'

'I realize that. My orders are that you get yourself breakfast or lunch, whatever you want to call it since you have yet to eat, while your friend is getting her CT scan.' He held up his hand as Charles began to protest. 'I will post a hospital security guard outside the scan room and give the nurses and technician your cell phone number for use in case of emergency. I will not accept any excuses here, understood?'

Chagrined, Charles nodded.

'One other thing – I would use the coffee cart outside rather than the cafeteria here in the hospital. As I recall, the cooks in the cafeteria cannot make a decent espresso to save their souls.' With that said, the doctor turned and walked toward the nurses' station at the other end of the hall.

He paused with his hand on the handle of the door to Jess' room. She was going to have questions and would not like his answers. He did not like the answers. Jacob Evans was still at large, having dumped his rust bucket within an hour of his escape. Charles was fairly certain that the man had changed his appearance as well; it was only logical. Given the statement from Bethany Carlisle, the hostage from yesterday's fiasco, Jess' life would be in danger until she either gave up her search – unlikely – or was killed by Evans. Neither option was acceptable in Charles' mind.

With a deep breathe, he opened the door. 'Sounds like you are pushing for an early release, Jess. Is that really the best plan?'

She dipped her head and grimaced. 'Dr. Cameron has a big mouth. I have to get out of here if I am going to catch that dog, now don't I?' She held up a hand, at least she tried. 'I am not an idiot, Charles. You would not be here if he had been caught yesterday.'

_Highly unlikely, Jess, but I am not about to start that conversation now, am I?_ 'There is a bit more to it than that, Jess. Evans spoke to the hostage yesterday before he drove away. The gist of it is that if you continue your _quest_ to nail him for the robbery and homicide, then he... ummm… he…'

'Just say it, Charles.'

'He is going to come after you.' It may have been only seven words, but the way they rushed out of his mouth made Charles think that he had invented a new language. He took a deep breath.

'Okay, then. Well, that is all the more reason for me to be out of here and carrying my weapon again, isn't it? I have been taking care of myself for half of my life now, so I think I can handle one crazed maniac.'

'But he has been watching you, Jess. Watching you for almost five weeks… he knows the color of your bath towels for crying out loud.' Her gasp spoke volumes. _She does not remember what that monster said to her yesterday. This is not going to be fun._

Jess did not remember that small tidbit from yesterday, and to be honest, it was not all that small. _I really thought that I was being paranoid. Jacob knows my bath towel colors; has he seen me do yoga? Can he see into my bedroom? The bathroom door faces the backyard; I cannot believe this._ She began to cry softly.

'Come on, Jess. Please do not cry.' Charles moved closer to her bedside. He patted her shoulder. _I really should have had sisters; I hate it when women cry!_ 'It will be okay. All of SDPD is looking for him now. The Chief and the DA agree with you that he is involved with the homicide of the bank manager and now we have him for assault on Bethany and threatening a federal agent.'

As quickly as the tears had come, they disappeared. '_They_ agree with _me NOW?_ Now, after I have been stalked, after another woman's life has been threatened, not to mention the robbery and homicide, after all of this, NOW they believe me. This man has been on the loose for five extra weeks, not to mention the time between his Miami escapades and San Diego. No. This is not _okay_, Charles.' She began to sit up and hit the nurses' call button at the same time. 'I am leaving this hospital now and then I am going to use every resource in my power to send Jacob Evans away for a very long time. Please hand me my clothing.'

A nurse entered the room, followed by Jess' Lieutenant, both hearing the tails end of Jess' rant.

Her Lt. was the first to speak. 'Lie down, Jessica.'

She scowled at him.

'I said, lie down. You are right. Every resource of this department will be put into capturing Jacob Evans, but you will not be one of those resources. As of right now, you are officially off of this case.'

'WHAT?'


	14. Chapter 14

Friday, March 21, 2008; 11:30 AM PST

**Friday, March 21, 2008; 4:30 PM PST**

_Shock._ It was really the only excuse for his behavior. He had been involved in 'surveillance' since he was fifteen years old. Only twice had he erred; the first error was not his own, the second inexcusable. When you depend on others, as he had six years ago, you can expect failures; when you work on your own, though, then you expect perfection. He had gotten too close. He had gotten too curious.

And now he was furious; furious with himself; furious with her; furious with the tall buffoon that was glued to her side.

Jacob had driven his pre-planned evasion route yesterday for an hour, wiped the steering wheel, gear shift and door handle down, ditched his sweatshirt in a nearby dumpster, then hopped on the bus at the next stop. _Thank goodness for prepaid bus passes. And the bus was far from empty – absolutely perfect._

The problem, of course, was that it should never have been necessary. He should have controlled himself.

_But they knew about Miami! Blast! How did they possibly connect me to my past so quickly?_ It had to be Mr. Tall's fault. CSI girl Jess had been walking herself in circles for five weeks until meeting up with that creep two days ago.

The dingy motel window reflected back the frustration in his eyes. Two days ago, he could watch his mark with ease, move about without worry. Today, he watched and re-watched the news footage from the hostage scene he had created in Point Loma. The SDPD has been very quick in their release of his description, frustrating him further. The appearance of his photograph, courtesy of the Department of Motor Vehicles, had led him to the convenience store on the corner for shaving cream and a razor.

He ran a hand over his now bald head as he considered the most interesting aspect of the news videos – the injury of Ms. Mitchell. _It was not even my fault. How ironic._ _But how do I get to her now? _He called several hospitals before finding the CSI, but had not actually let himself be connected to her room. _That is not appropriate yet, is it? I just do not know. I need to think._

A moment, then two passed. Throwing caution to the wind, Jacob picked up the motel phone. It was unlikely that they had put a trace on her hospital room phone.

'_Scripps Memorial Hospital. Extension please.'_

'Ms. Jessica Mitchell's room please.'

'_One moment, sir, I am connecting you now.'_

The phone rang once, twice and in the middle of the third ring, he heard a male voice.

'This is Jess' room. Agent Dewey speaking.'

_They have her in protective custody? Oh, of course they do, I have not been captured. _ 'This is a friend of hers. I was hoping to stop by or send her flowers, if she is unable to speak right now. Can she talk with me?'

'Actually, Jess is sleeping currently, but if you have your gift sent to the fifth floor, it will be delivered to her.'

'Agent, can I possibly have her room number just in case I am able to stop by?'

'No, that information is not being released. I am sorry but I did not catch your name. Could I please have it so that I can pass your well wishes along to Jess?'

Jacob paused, the silence oppressive in the middle of the men's conversation. It was Dewey who broke the silence.

'How dare you, you sick dog? If you come anywhere near her again, I will personally see to it that…' The dial tone broke off the statement of hatred.

Charles shook as he slowly hung up the phone. That took balls; calling the hospital room of the woman you have been stalking was not something that most men could gather the courage to do. Of course, most Federal agents would have been more cautious answering the phone with the knowledge that there was a stalker, robber and murderer on the loose.

As Jess began to stir after her _nap_, he shook himself purposefully. Once again he was going to have to explain what had happened, but before stepping into the den of the lioness again, he was going to call in back up.

Stepping into the hallway, he dialed Jess' Lt.'s cell phone number.

'Is she awake again, Agent?' Charles liked that the man was all business.

'I believe that she is about to, sir, but please do not worry. I can handle explaining the situation to her. I never would have guessed that she would react so strongly to such a small amount of sedative; probably something that should be added to her personnel file. But that situation is not the reason for my call, sir.'

'Talk to me.'

'Evans called the hospital room. I failed to ask for a name before revealing Jess' floor number. I am sorry, sir. This is my fault.' Charles hung his head. For the second time in just over one day, he had dropped the ball on protecting Jessica Mitchell.

'No point in casting blame now, kid. I need you to stick with Jess until I can get a protection detail released to her. I will also coordinate with the floor nurse to have her moved to another floor. Scripps is the best place for her right now, so changing hospitals is not an option in my mind. I have known Dr. Cameron for years and he is the best.'

The Homeland Security agent chuckled. 'Sir, you know that I will not leave her until this is over. It is my guess that we have neither seen nor heard the last of Jacob Evans until he is behind bars.'

'Yes, Charles, yes. Take care of her for us, now, okay?'

'Absolutely.' _Now for the hard part, the part where he told Jess that they had sedated her earlier that morning._


	15. Chapter 15

Friday, March 21, 2008; 5:30 PM PST

**Friday, March 21, 2008; 5:30 PM PST**

'_Ummm… Agent Dewey, Ms. Mitchell is paging the nurses' station rather franticly, sir. We are all a little bit nervous to go in there after this morning. Her monitors are all within normal, though her heart rate is getting a little bit fast.'_

Charles was startled slightly by the meek nurses' aide that sidled up to him in the hallway as he just closed his cell call with Jess' Lt. Little did she know that he felt the same 'little bit nervous' when considering the powder keg of a CSI he was about to face.

'I will take care of her and call you in if she needs any help, ma'am.'

'_Thank you, sir.'_ With a cleansing breath, she left him to his task.

'WHAT IS GOING ON? Where is everyone?' _The better question is why I am still in this hospital when I should have been on the street with the rest of the force…_she glanced at the clock in her room_... hours ago. There had better be a pretty good explanation for this. Next person through that door is going to be answering some questions for me. On that front, where is that nurse?_ She pressed the call button again, twice.

The door cracked open a few inches.

'Charles, if that is you, you had better get in here and tell me why I have been asleep half of the day and I am still in the hospital. If it is not Charles, someone had better find him NOW.'

'Goodness, Jess, those nurses were not kidding. You really are on the warpath. Where's the fire?' _Maybe humor will defuse the situation._

'Do not patronize me, Agent.'

_No such luck._

'Last I remember the Lieutenant was pulling me off of MY case and you were standing mutely beside him. Care to tell me what happened next?'

'You went to sleep.'

'No, sir, I did not GO to sleep. I would remember GOING to sleep. The truth now… please.'

He remained close to the door. _No wonder the nurses would not come in here. _'You were sedated due to the intensity of your reaction to getting pulled from the case. The nurses were worried that you would reinjure yourself if you fell. They were not able to hold you down any longer and they would not let me come in to restrain you.'

'Oh.'

'One more thing, Jess, while you were sleeping, Jacob called the room. I accidentally told him what floor you are on, so you are going to be moving to another floor with a protection detail in the next little while. I am truly sorry about this mess.'

She blinked at him. 'He is really serious about coming after me, isn't he, Charles?' Her voice had dropped to almost a whisper in a matter of seconds.

Normally an emotionally steady man, Charles closed his own eyes for an instant before hurrying to the bedside. This time he did not hesitate as he sat down and took her hand. 'Yes, he is serious, but so am I,' he said quietly, matching her tone. 'You are not alone in this, Jess. You will never be alone in this.'

Their hands squeezed together; it did not matter who squeezed first.

'So how long am I here for now?' The fight was ebbing out of her body quickly.

'At least until tomorrow night, kiddo; you will have to live with me beside you until then. Once again, I am really sorry about all th…' He stopped talking. Jess had fallen asleep as he spoke, so he did not move or say anything else for several moments.

When his back could no longer stand the angle he was sitting at, he leaned over their joined hands. Kissing the back of her hand softly, he whispered, 'Don't worry, sweetheart. We are in this together from here on in. I will never let anyone hurt you.'

Of course, promises like this are the impossible kind to keep.


	16. Chapter 16

Sunday, March 23, 2008; 7:30 AM PST

**Sunday, March 23, 2008; 7:30 AM PST**

Jess tightened her new lilac satin robe around her frame as she stared out the hotel room window. She hated that she was here. This place was not conducive to thinking; between the two uniforms posted outside the door, the almost touchable presence of Agent Dewey in the next room and the muted roar of the traffic below, all deep and useful thoughts evaded her.

After being released from the hospital last night, Jess had looked forward to her own bed, her own space. Instead she felt trapped. Her Lt. and Charles had met her hospital-required wheelchair at the back door standing beside a dark SUV with tinted windows.

Her heart had dropped at the sight.

_'No.'_

'It is the only way to ensure your safety.'

'You will only be under department protection until Evans is caught, Ms. Mitchell.'

'You guys do not understand, do you? You are talking about my home, my life.'

'No, Jess, we are talking about keeping you alive.'

She rolled her head back and closed her eyes.

'Do I at least get to go shopping for some clothing since this' – she gestured to her hospital scrubs – 'is all I have to wear?'

The Lt. coughed and looked away. 'The wife shopped for you. Everything is at the hotel.'

Jess felt the heat of a blush creep into her neck and then her face. Finally she raised her hands and shrugged. 'Since I do not get a vote, then I guess you guys win.'

Looking deep into the San Diego marine layer, Jess shuddered in frustration. She was unused to anyone taking control of her life. With Jacob on the loose during the past five – no, it is six now – weeks, her control had been slipping without her knowledge. Now her boss and her friend were taking over. True, the hotel room was likely safer than her home right now, but it would have been nice to make the decision herself. Jess Mitchell did not take well to being treated like a child.

_I have to start thinking more about my case and less about myself. What do I know today that I did not know three days ago? _Walking to the desk for a pad of paper, Jess squared her shoulders. She was a CSI. She would just do her job despite what those men told her to do.

'Okay. Evans has definitely escalated. He is getting bolder about his pursuit of me, his perceived threat.'

Talking through a case to herself always helped Jess think through it more clearly, even if it did make her look a little bit silly.

'He knows that he has been connected to Miami and in turn, he must think that we know more about him. Actually, we should know more about him. What was the name of that CSI in Miami that Charles spoke to on Thursday?' She tapped her pencil on the desk. 'Ah-ha! Caine, Horatio Caine.'

She heard a knock on her door. _Did I really just yell ah-ha?_

_'Detective Mitchell, are you alright in there? We heard you call out.'_

'I am fine, officers. Just a little bit of excitement thinking about a day of vegging in front of the TV.' _Okay, so that was a lie, but they certainly do not really need to know what I was thinking, do they?_

Jess held her breathe, hoping that the officers would buy into her lie.

_'Ummm… okay, ma'am. If you're sure that you are okay… then, ummm, please just let us know if you need anything.'_

Thank goodness. 'Absolutely. Do not worry about me. I am perfectly safe in here.' She smiled, having calmed them down temporarily at the very least. The officers diverted, Jess picked up the phone and made her long distance call.


	17. Chapter 17

Sunday, March 23, 2008; 10:57 AM EST; MDPD Headquarters

**Sunday, March 23, 2008; 10:57 AM EST; MDPD Headquarters**

Lt. Horatio Caine stood silently on the steps in front of Headquarters, hands resting resolutely on his hips, sunglasses protecting his vision as he tracked the sun across the deep blue sky. It had been a long night; successful in that they had solved another taxing case, but long, nonetheless. Though he would not change it, he often wondered at the logic of his own statement that _in Miami, we never close. _Still, until the criminals closed up shop, neither would he.

_'Lieutenant Caine, I am glad I caught you.'_

'What is it, Pam?'

The desk clerk took a breath. _'I have a CSI Jessica Mitchell from San Diego on the line. She would like to speak with you; she said that you would understand the importance of the Evans matter.'_

'Yes, yes, ma'am, I do. Could you please put her through to my cell?'

_'It will just take me one moment, sir.'_

Horatio took off his sunglasses and twisted the frames around in his hand, trying to decide if he should re-enter the building or just take CSI Mitchell's call out here on the steps. The buzzing at his hip answered the question for him.

'Caine.'

'Lt. Caine, this is CSI Jessica Mitchell. I ap… apologize for calling you on a Sunday, sir; I realize that this is likely your day off.'

Though she could not see it, Horatio's lips tipped slightly to the left in his signature half-smile. 'It is quite alright, Ms. Mitchell. How can I help you? An Agent Dewey and I have discussed the Evans case that you mentioned to Pam earlier this week.'

'I… I understand that, sir. Ummm… have you not been updated since that conversation, sir?' Jess cringed; she was about to break two of her own rules. She was ignoring the fact that this was no longer her case and she was discussing her case with an outside source whom she had never met. Caution had been left by the wayside sometime this morning though.

'Is there something that I should know, Ms. Mitchell?'

'Well… ummm… yes, sir. Contact has been made since Thursday morning with Jacob Evans. He temporarily took a hostage to elude capture and has been in the wind since that time. Also, ummm… he has discovered that the connection has been made between him and crimes committed in your jurisdiction, sir.'

Horatio slowly raised his sunglasses and then replaced his free hand on his hip. Turning slightly to look into the parking lot, he quietly considered the information the young voice on his phone had relayed.

'I see.' He paused again. 'And what do you intend to do with this new information?'

'Sir… well… ummm…' Jess was uncertain of how to proceed.

'Ms. Mitchell, if our departments have any intention of working together on this pursuit, I am going to need you to keep me completely up-to-date. Do you have anything that you would like to share with me?'

'Lieutenant Caine, Agent Dewey contacted you last week on my behalf; this has been my case – well, my quote-unquote _closed _case. I am the reason that you were asked to reopen your case files. I am the reason that Mr. Evans took a hostage on Thursday and how he discovered that we had connected him to his criminal career in your jurisdiction. During unforeseen circumstances on Thursday, I was hospitalized until last night due to a head injury and have been pulled from the case. I apologize that you have not been kept abreast of the latest details.'

He gave another quiet smile. 'I see. Are you up to date on the case as it currently stands?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Tell me where you think the search should go next, CSI Mitchell.'

'Thank you. And please call me Jess.' The hotel window reflected her first smile in days back at her, encouraging her to go on. 'Jacob blames me for his current status. He has been stalking me for the past five weeks and Friday night he contacted my hospital room. It is my understanding that he reattempted contact yesterday morning, but disconnected the call before a trace could be completed. All we know is that he is still in San Diego.'

'And your reasons for contacting me, Jess?'

'Sir, it is my theory that if Jacob believed we were putting together a multi-jurisdictional case against him and I was openly involved, then he would come out of hiding. At this point, sir, I am the only one that he blames for the progress being made in the case. I… ummm… sir, well…I would like to become… well, bait.'

To say that Horatio was shocked would be an understatement. During Jess' explanation of the current circumstances, he had reentered the building, heading for his office. Now he was stalled, feet planted firmly outside of the Trace Lab. _She is suggesting that we use her to bring this man out of hiding. He is a professional criminal that has evaded capture in multiple locations, including directly under my nose. If she is not crazy, she should be on my team. _The thought brought a smile to his face again.

He restarted his journey up the stairs to his office. 'That is quite a theory, Miss. Have you discussed this plan with your superiors and Agent Dewey?'

Silence, very telling silence permeated the airwaves.

'I will take that as a no, Jess.'

'Correct, sir. I am sorry to put you in this position.'

'I have been there before, Ms. Mitchell, I have been there before. When were you intending to tell the rest of your team?'

'Ummm… the plan just came to me this morning, Lt. Caine. I can speak to them as soon as we complete our conversation.'

'That would probably be a good plan. Keep me informed, ma'am.'

'Yes, sir, and thank you.'

'Don't thank me yet, Ms. Mitchell. This is just the beginning.' He closed his cell and rubbed a hand over his eyes. _I suppose I would not be the only driven criminal investigator in the country. Huh. What an interesting young lady. _He picked up the phone again, hitting the speed dial.

'What's up, H?'

'Mr. Wolfe, are you available to brief me on the Jacob Evans file today?'

'Uh, sure, H; when would you like to meet?'

'As soon as possible, Mr. Wolfe, as soon as possible. I may need you to clear part of your schedule this week as well. We will either be travelling to San Diego or bringing San Diego to us very soon.'

Ryan was in his truck on the way to the beach. He turned around at the next intersection. 'I can be there in fifteen, H.'

'Good.' Then he hung up.


	18. Chapter 18

Sunday, March 23, 2008; 9:00 AM PST

**Sunday, March 23, 2008; 9:00 AM PST**

He cautiously opened the door. After the last few nights in the hospital, sleeping in was the only thing on his mind – until he heard the pounding on his door. Of course, it was nine o'clock, yet what could be so important?

She handed him one of the paper mugs in her hand and waved at the officers that had been standing behind her, as she confidently strode past him through the open doorway. Had it not been for his glimpse of her slightly wavering smile, Charles would have thought that this was a different woman.

'While I am most grateful for the coffee…'

'It is a Café Cubano.' She interrupted from the window.

'Okay, then, the cubano. While I am thankful for it, I sure would like to know what is going on.'

'Did… ummm… did you want to get dressed first, Charles?' Jess blushed, her back still facing him and the door.

'Is there something wrong with what I have on?' He glanced down at his undershirt and boxers; at least she had noticed. _I suppose that tells me something; I just do not have a clue what that could be._

'Uh, no, I suppose not, but we are going to be making a trip to the lab, so some pants might be in order. I am reentering the case.'

'Did the Lt. call while I was asleep? I could have sworn that we decided that it was in your best interests to be off the Evans case. Or did that bump on your head erase the fact that he has threatened you life more than once now?'

'The Lt. did not call, I called him. He is going to be meeting us at PD in…' She glanced at her watch. '…in twenty minutes, though I will probably need to answer the same questions all over again with him.' Jess turned from the window. 'Jacob wants me. He is going to come get me; we are just going to make it a little bit harder on him than before. Between me, you and Lt. Caine's team, I will be perfectly safe. We are just going to play a small game of cat and mouse.'

Dumbfounded could not begin to describe Charles' emotions. He stared at the woman across from him; in her fitted khakis and white button down, she looked the picture of the CSI professional. _But what she is suggesting is ludicrous. She is going to get herself killed. This is what we train undercover officers for!_

'No.'

'I have already spoken with Lt. Caine. He is preparing his team and awaiting the 'bait plan' from our end. The way I see it…'

Charles interrupted again. 'No, Jess.'

'This was not a question, Charles.'

His jaw dropped. She walked over and with one finger under his chin, closed his mouth.

'As I said, this was not a question. This is my plan. Jacob will need to be drawn out here in San Diego, which will mean that I need to go back to work tomorrow; our best chance of catching him, though, will be if he is off balance.'

'I suppose that you have a plan for that too.'

She smiled. 'We are probably going to Miami. Now get dressed; we need to leave for Headquarters in… ummm… about ten minutes.' Walking toward the door, she thought, _he did not agree, but he is not arguing any longer either. Well, either way, one down, one to go. _And she headed back to her room to enjoy the rest of her cubano.

Charles, on the other hand, stood stalk still for another five minutes before realizing that he needed to get dressed quickly, so that he could be at PD with Jess when she "_presented her case_" to the Lt. Maybe the two of them could tag team her out of this insanity.

_Yeah, right._


	19. Chapter 19

Monday, March 24, 2008; 8:00 AM

**Monday, March 24, 2008; 8:00 AM**  
  
_She came to work. Interesting. _Jacob knew that his only chance at tracing her again would be if she either went home (his post from yesterday) or came to work. _Of course, she would come to work; when is she not at work? Now, how to torment her next?_

Over the weekend, as he sat in his dingy hotel room, Jacob had figured something out. He no longer just wanted to end CSI Mitchell's pursuit of him; he wanted… no, he needed to make her pay for ending his long career. With her out there he could no longer pursue his life of crime freely. So he would toy with her until he had extracted his debt from her.

_**10:00 AM; SDPD Crime Lab**_

The delivery arrived between the USPS mail pick up and the FedEx delivery; between the stack of mail she was sorting into departments, the two clipboards blended into one another in Carissa's eyes. No matter how long she worked for SDPD, this time of day never got any easier. Eight years into the job she could handle victim and suspect meltdowns in the foyer, crabby CSIs and lab technicians, and the inevitable twice yearly rush of the Lieutenant to process reviews; but this one thirty minute period of her day, it always baffled her.

Now looking at the vase full of bright orange daylilies addressed to CSI Mitchell, Carissa cringed. _I sure hope they have those new cameras working this morning. _She paged both the Lt. and the CSI, requesting their presence at the reception desk.

_'Sir, ma'am… ummm… we received a delivery this morning in the midst of the mail rush. It is for you, Ms. Mitchell. I realize that I should have been more careful considering the circumstances. I am sorry.'_

Jess slowly approached the vase on the desk. One of her hobbies, one she kept very much to herself, was her knowledge of Victorian flower meanings; though in this moment she wished very deeply that it wasn't. _Orange lilies – pride – disdain – hatred…I wonder what the card says._

'Lieutenant, do you happen to have a pair of gloves in your lab coat?'

He handed her a pair, knowing that Jess was going to open the card.

Carefully, touching only the very edges, she removed the card from its plastic holder and envelope. The Lt. put gloves on himself and reached out to hold the envelope for her while she read.

_I see that you are feeling better. Such a shame, that knock on the head. Too bad Mr. Tall did not stop you from hitting the pavement. Hope you received my message. By the way, nice blue slacks today. They certainly bring out the curves of your butt._

Always, Jacob

Her hands were shaking as she grabbed the edge of the reception desk. The receptionist slid her desk chair behind the frightened woman's knees and helped lower her into the chair.

_'Carissa, could you please page trace and get them down here with their cases to process the vase? We will also need QD (Questioned Documents) to come pick up this card and the envelope.'_

'Is that all, sir?'

'No, you might as well get AV (Audio/Visual) down here at the same time. They are going to be tied up on this for a while. And I need Agent Charles Dewey in my office as soon as possible.'

'I will get in contact with them all momentarily. Once again, sir, I am very sorry.' He glared at her and she retreated to her desk.  
_**  
11:40 AM**_

'You are out, Jess. This is absurd. You are scared out of your mind and he is a nut job.' Charles had been sitting in the Lt.'s office with her for the last twenty minutes. She still was not listening to him.

She took a deep breath and smiled. 'Charles. I am an adult, not to mention a CSI. Yes, I was surprised by Evans this morning; no, he did not actually hurt me. This is what we need him to be doing. Jacob may be a brilliant criminal mind, but he will trip and when he does, we… no, I need to be there.'

_'You are insane.' _He was muttering, but a person would have to be half deaf not to hear him in the small room.

She just smiled, thankful for the brisk knock on the door that interrupted the conversation.

_'Enter.'_ The lieutenant was never particularly polite about interruptions.

Three lab techs stood outside the now open door nervously.

_'Does someone want to go first or do I have to choose?'  
_  
Again he was met with nervous glances, until finally one of the Trace technicians spoke up.

_'Nothing unusual on the vase, sir. Only one set of prints and those likely belong to the delivery person. The flowers are standard orange daylilies.'_

'No prints on the envelope or the card either, sir. I sent a swab to DNA, but the envelope was dry and it looks like it was tucked in on itself for closure.' Jess nodded her head in confirmation.

_'I am still running a trace on the credit card used to order the flowers, but it is coded like one of those new prepaid things they sell at the grocery store. In all likelihood, it will be untraceable.'_

The Lt. and Charles stood at the same time; their height and postures making the lab techs shrink back noticeably.

_'So, in essence, you came here to tell me that you know exactly – nothing.' _They nodded, apologetically. _'Do you plan…'_

Jess jumped out of her chair. 'Thanks, you guys. I really appreciate how quickly you came through with that analysis. Could you please make sure that all three of us get copies of your reports when you are done with them?'

With small smiles and nods in her direction, the techs scurried out of the room. She glared at her protectors.

'Guys, he wants to play this game, so we play it. Either that or I live in fear and do not do my job. Shall we move on to level number two in the game?'


	20. Chapter 20

Tuesday, March 25, 2008; 3:45 PM EST

**Tuesday, March 25, 2008; 3:45 PM EST**

'Caine.'

'Hi, Lieutenant Caine, this is Charles, Agent Charles Dewey.'

'Yes, Charles. Did something come up in your investigation?' Though at a crime scene, this call was vital enough to cause Horatio to step under the yellow tape and into his Hummer.

_It is no wonder she called him with her plan first; I have never heard of two people whose thoughts were so completely alike. _'Well, yes and no, sir. Flowers were delivered yesterday morning – orange daylilies, untraceable, of course. I am told that the flowers mean something like hatred in _the language of flowers_.' He could not help the slight sarcasm that entered his voice. 'Though not evidentiary, it certainly suggests that Evans is being lured by CSI Mitchell's return to her routine.'

'I agree. What can I do for you?'

'We would like… no, let me correct that. Jess thinks that it would be best for the investigation if she returned to her home, without removing any of the bugs or opportunities for surveillance. I am uncomfortable with her being there alone.'

'You and I both, Mr. Dewey.'

'My problem is that all of the SDPD agents might be recognized by Evans and I am unable to assign an agent because this is not a department case. Would it be possible… more directly, are any of your men free, Lt. Caine?'

'Horatio, please. I can release Mr. Wolfe to the investigation since it is connected with our jurisdiction. He has been briefed on the latest update I received from CSI Mitchell, but I would like to get him up to speed on most recent occurrences and provide him with cover information prior to his departure.'

'Absolutely, Horatio; I can have that information to you within the hour. I will also forward flight information as soon as we have it for him. Thank you. I keep hoping that this fiasco will be over soon. Jacob Evans has to mess up at some point, does he not?'

'He certainly does, Charles. He certainly does. Mr. Wolfe will be prepared when you are.'

'Thank you, Horatio. Jess' safety means a lot to us.'

'Charles, just one question; if your department will not issue an undercover for this case, then you must be working vacation time, correct?'

'Ummm… yes… yes, I am.'

'I see. We will talk later then.' Hanging up the phone, Horatio's profiling radar kicked into high gear. He almost had Agent Charles Dewey figured out. This was just one more piece of a very complicated puzzle.

**  
9:15 PM EST; 6:15 PM PST**

Ryan hated to be rushed. For a man who liked order, having forty-five minutes to pack for what could be a very long trip was as close as he planned on getting to a death sentence.

Sitting on the plane, he knew he had forgotten something. He had not even printed the plant watering schedule for Eric Delko, his friend and now condo-sitter. Of course, the fact that he was letting Delko stay in his condo at all was a matter of sheer desperation – he had seen Delko's apartment, for crying out loud.

Nothing to be done about it for the next four and a half hours; he would just email it to Calleigh when he landed in San Diego. _She will know what to do. Their airport will have wireless internet, won't it? Oh, man, what am I doing here? How did H talk me into this one?_

He did, in fact, know exactly how his boss had talked him into this – he asked. All Horatio had to say was that the San Diego CSI was in danger because of the case that he had been researching and needed protection. That was the end of the story for Ryan and Horatio knew it.

_Sometimes it is like he can see inside of my brain. Even I do not want to see inside there, but, H, he can read me like a book._

Focus, buddy… list, book, file! I need to look at the file that Horatio handed me at the terminal.

Digging it out of the laptop case at his feet, Ryan pulled out the manila folder and opened it to the first page. It contained a summary of the information that he already knew.

_- Suspect Jacob Evans wanted in Miami-Dade County for armored truck robbery-homicide; suspect in several other cases  
- Suspect also wanted in San Diego County for bank robbery-homicide and threatening both local and federal law enforcement officials; also wanted in connection with taking a hostage  
- Evans is five foot eleven with brown hair; he is twenty-five years old. City of origin: Miami._

A picture was included from the Miami file. Of course, it was six years old. Ryan imagined that the San Diego office had something more recent, though likely just as useless. The man would have to be an idiot – and he certainly was not – to have not changed his appearance considerably by now.

He turned the page. Blue eyes stared back at him. In his head, Ryan knew that this department photograph likely did nothing for the woman looking up from the paper and it scared him more than a little. _This should be interesting. Well, tell me, Ms. Mitchell, who exactly are you?_

Other than the photo, the description was basic. She was five feet eight inches, brown hair, and blue eyes. Her department record was exemplary; the only blip being a complaint by the DA three weeks ago concerning… _ha, I should have guessed that she would be just like Horatio. _The complaint had been issued due to the constant "pressure" she was placing on the DA about re-opening the Evans case. Other than that, there was nothing of value in the description. Ryan was not concerned about last year's firearms qualifications or lab specialties; what he had really been looking for was a glimpse into who this woman was. It was not there.

The next page of the file held the most detailed diagram of a house that Ryan had ever seen. _Linen closet: Guest Towels, Sheets and Spare Toiletries. Upper Left North Facing Kitchen Cabinet: Cereal bowls, Coffee Mugs, Plates – Both Luncheon and Dinner. This is insane. I would do this – I have done this. _He lifted a hand to his forehead. That is what I forgot to leave Delko – the map! Of course, being a guest, Ryan would have to ignore any information on this page. He would need to stumble his way around the house for the first few days.

Lifting the map, he found the information he truly sought: his cover. _What little kid does not want to act like someone else? This should be fun._

Ryan's face fell. Then his jaw dropped.

_Cover story: Ryan Wolfe. Miami, Florida. Old friend visiting from out of town._

He lifted the page, only to find himself staring at the back of the manila folder. _They are kidding, right? They have to be kidding.  
_  
But there were no other pages, no other details to be discovered. Ryan was going to play… _Ryan._ He leaned his head back onto the head rest with a sigh. It suddenly did not seem like as much fun to be going "undercover".


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: For those who have not been to Southern California, here are just a few points of interest

_A/N:_ For those who have not been to Southern California, here are just a few points of interest. We do not use words like 'gnarly' - even the surfers! Also, to my knowledge In'N'Out Burger is a fastfood restaurant only available in CA, Arizona and Nevada... my apologies to the rest of the nation that is missing this gift. You'll have to try them some day - it'll be great, I promise!

**Tuesday, March 25, 2008; 10:05 PM**

Ryan scanned the sparse crowd at the bottom of the escalator looking for his brunette 'friend'. _Hopefully that photo in the file does her enough justice or I will never get out of this place. I am so tired. _He glanced at his digital watch, for once thankful that it could display two different time zones. _No wonder! It is after one in the morning in Miami. If her place is far…_

Ryan was interrupted from his thoughts by a shy and yet pleasant _Hi Ry_ from his left side. He turned his head quickly and stopped dead in his tracks.

'Jess? Hi. Thanks for meeting me here so late.' His eyes questioned hers. _Is he here? Were you followed?_

_I do not know. It is really hard to say. _Her blue eyes answered back as she waved him in the direction of the baggage carousel and moved to walk close to his side.

'How was your flight, Ryan?' Jess was mortified by this show of familiarity with a complete stranger. She knew it was necessary until they were safely ensconced in her car, but it bothered her nonetheless.

'Long, but smooth; I am always thankful for a ride without turbulence. It is the only thing that makes me think it will be safe to go up there again.' He tilted his head slightly to smile at her, realizing as he did that he was not the only uncomfortable person in this situation.

Jess sighed slightly. 'I completely agree. Well, I know that you have had a long day, as have I, so we will just grab your bags and get out of here.' Then, as if suddenly remembering her manners, 'Ry, did you eat anything on the plane or have dinner in Miami? The fridge is probably pretty empty at home or if it is not, then it should be.'

'Gosh, no one has called me Ry in years. It is nice to hear again. I could definitely eat and then sleep. Is there a drive-thru between here and your place?' _How awkward is this? Talking to Jess as if I have known her for years is absurd. Remember, Ryan, this is an assignment so get over yourself and act the part!_

She mentally noted the spots along the way and then listed them off for Ryan. After deciding on In'n'Out and grabbing his bags – Ryan, with determination, refusing to let her carry anything, they walked in silence out to the parking lot.

The night air was cool and felt much like Miami's against his skin. As he loaded his bags into the rear of the car, he accidentally wondered aloud if anyone surfed in this place.

'Ryan, you do know that San Diego is on the Pacific Ocean, right?' Had Jess not felt so completely out of place she might have laughed at him.

'Well, yeah, but…' He hated feeling so inept in this new social setting. 'I… ummm… I…'

'It is okay if your knowledge of my fine city is minimal.' She giggled slightly. He liked what it did to her face. 'We do, in fact, have surfing. My understanding is that it can be pretty… gnarly.' She was teasing; he enjoyed the break in the tension. 'Ironically, we also have electricity, indoor plumbing and the Internet.'

'Okay, funny girl, point taken. I would guess that your Miami trivia is not so fine if I were to test you right now either!'

'Hop in, Ryan. I will have you fed and sleeping like a baby before you know it.' She started the car.

**10:45 PM; One Block Behind Jess Mitchell's House**

Jacob had almost fallen asleep when his bugs from Jess' house suddenly kicked in. He pulled his binoculars out of the glove compartment and directed them across the empty lot just as lights started coming on in the living room.

_Welcome to my home, Ryan._

You are neater than you were in college, J. I am quite impressed.

Never did take a lot to do that, Mr. Wolfe!

Ha.

Let me show you around the place.

I would guess that this is the living room. And that would be the television.

Always the funny man, right? Come on. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen, but like I told you on the way home, there is not a lot in there. We will have to go shopping tomorrow.

There was silence for a moment. He was surprised at her free attitude in returning to her home. She knew he had been watching her. Nothing had been changed about the house in her absence; no one had come to the house until today. Bath store bags were the only things she had brought in then.

The wire came back to life.

_I know that you are tired, Ry. Let me show you to your room and bathroom. There are brand new towels in the bathroom and the sheets are clean, of course._

Jacob could not help thinking to himself that whoever Ryan Wolfe was Jess was awfully familiar with him.

_Thanks, J. You always were a hostess, even when you did not even fold your clothes!_

Silence again. He had to strain to hear the next words.

_I am glad you are here, Ry. After all that has happened this past week, I could never have come home without knowing that someone else would be here with me._

Another pause.

_Thank you._

Jess, you know I am always available for my buddy. I am glad that I could be there to hold you up, kiddo.

She cleared her throat. _Like I said thanks. Do you need anything else before I head off to my room for bed?_

Nope. If I need it, I will find it myself. Good night, Jess.

Night, Ryan.

Jacob soaked in the following silence. This man, whoever he was, knew about Jess' adventures of the past week. _I will have to listen carefully tomorrow morning. More details will be necessary before I can find out who he is. Waiting… it is the hardest part._

**Thursday, March 26, 2008; 6:15 AM**

'Good morning, sweetheart.' Ryan laughed at himself. _This is all so absurd. _'Did you sleep at all, Jess? I heard you pacing in your room last night.'

'Ry, good morning to you too. I was just thinking. It was nothing to worry about. Would you like some coffee?' She lifted the pot in his direction with the question.

'Absolutely.' He took a cup off the shelf. He took a sip immediately after she poured and he almost gagged.

'Oops, I should have warned you; I have switched to café cubano since college.'

'My gosh, I thought only Delko could make coffee this strong!' He started drinking his coffee again slowly. 'Luckily, I have built up my tolerance to this caffeine jolt every morning in Miami with the schedule that H keeps us on. It will help with the time change.'

_Thank goodness he is smiling._ She laughed silently at his name dropping. They both realized that they were being watched and heard. No matter how it disturbed her to have a stranger beside her, she was thankful for it. And for whatever reason, she trusted him… she trusted the man that Horatio Caine had sent.


	22. Chapter 22

Thursday, March 26, 2008; 8:15 AM

**Thursday, March 26, 2008; 8:15 AM**

Charles paced behind the glass doors of the SD Crime Lab. _They are late. Jess is never late, but with this guy she is late. I knew this was a mistake. What was I thinking? Seriously, Charles, bringing someone in from the outside? What an id…_ Then he saw the pair. They were laughing their way up the sidewalk toward the front door, looking comfortable. _Great! Now they are friends!_

Jess was barely inside the door when Charles could not contain himself any longer. 'You are late.'

She glanced at her watch, then at Ryan. She laughed. 'Yes, I suppose that we are… by fifteen minutes. Have you been standing there the entire time, Agent Dewey?'

He turned briskly. 'I will see you in the conference room for morning briefing. You know how the Lieutenant does not appreciate tardiness.' _Now if only the elevator would arrive quickly and I could escape my own personal humiliation._ He watched the numbers above the door and felt their eyes heating the back of his neck. _First floor, first floor, first…thank goodness! _Charles stepped into the elevator.

Ryan and Jess stepped in right after him. They glanced back at him briefly before making eye contact with each other and facing the closing doors with barely contained laughter.

_This morning cannot get any worse._

**8:25 AM; Somewhere Outside the SDPD Headquarters**

Jacob had given up his tail on CSI Mitchell and her friend on the way to the lab this morning. His goal – a prepaid cell phone. _I am tired of guessing about this idiot 'Ryan' that she brought in last night. It is time to find out who he is. I never actually thought that I would be talking to any of these people again… at least on purpose._ He dialed.

'MDPD Crime Lab, how may I direct your call?' the too chipper receptionist answered his call.

'I need to speak with Ryan Wolfe; he works for Horatio Caine's team.'

'Yes, sir.' There was a long pause. 'Sir, I will have to transfer you to Lt. Caine as Mr. Wolfe is out of the office currently; please hold.'

Though uncertain that this was a good plan, he decided to hold. Jacob did not have to wait long.

'Caine.'

'Well…' _It is now or never. _'Well, hello, Horatio. It has been such a long, long time.'

Horatio's head came up from the crime scene photographs that he had been examining in Layout. He made a quick decision and started moving down the hall toward Tyler in A/V.

'With whom am I speaking, since we seem to know one another so well?'

'That would not be fun at all, would it, Horatio? For now, let us just say that I am an old friend.' Jacob smiled at his own quick thinking and glanced at his watch. _Knowing this CSI, he should have a trace on his phone by now. Only a few seconds longer… _'I heard that your Mr. Wolfe came to visit a friend of mine; how kind of him.'

'Mr. Evans, I am glad that you called. I have a great interest in speaking to you about certain events from your past.'

'That did not take you long, but I am not surprised; you have always been a quick study. No time to talk today, but I thought you might pass a message along to your CSI to watch out for the cubanos that Jess makes… you never know what might be in them. Oh, and he might try being on time to the lab tomorrow morning.' He hung up. _Just under the wire; not that my number or location would have given him any information. But I do need to keep my guard up around here now._

**11:35 AM EST; MDPD Crime Lab**

'Did we get anything from that, Tyler?' He looked over the lab technician's shoulder; hands resting near his phone and badge on his hips.

'Lieutenant, I am sorry, but I really cannot give you much from that call. Whoever he is, he knows how long it takes us to trace a call.'

Horatio tipped his head to the side. 'I see. What can you give me?'

'He is in downtown San Diego and on a disposable phone. If he calls again, I may be able to get a call return on him or a more precise location, but other than that…' The tech let his voice trail off.

'Understood. I will be on the cell if you think of anything else.' He stepped into the hallway and started toward his office above the trace lab. He waited until the door had closed and then dialed Wolfe's number.

'Hey, H, what is going on?'

'Evans made contact, Mr. Wolfe. He is somewhere in the downtown area right now.' Horatio could hear scrambling and the distinctive ding of an elevator in the background.

_He is downtown, you guys. We have to go see if there is a chance he is close by. _'Mr. Wolfe.'

'Yeah, H. Sorry about the interruption. What did he say?'

'Well, apparently you were late this morning.'

'What? How?'

'Some, like your boss, might question the why first, Mr. Wolfe.' Horatio grinned into the phone.

'Ummm… yeah… well…'

_Poor Ryan. _Horatio let him off the hook quickly. 'More importantly, though, there may be an issue with the coffee at CSI Mitchell's house. He made some allusions to not knowing what might be in them.'

'We will look into it immediately. _I will catch you in a minute Charles and Jess._ H, I am not sure if she can handle this. She is not sleeping. If he has been in the house…' Ryan let the statement hang between them.

'I see. That, of course, is why you are there, Mr. Wolfe, but please be certain to keep me posted and inform Agent Dewey of any concerns you may have.'

'Yeah, H. I had best go help with the search outside. Maybe we will find some physical evidence that this guy has been nearby.'

'Good luck, Ryan. We will speak soon.' Horatio closed his cell.

Sighing slightly, he walked to his office window. His city was moving quickly below him. The familiarity of the view allowed him the freedom to analyze his conversation with Jacob Evans. Six years and for the first time the man was giving up his anonymity. Not particularly surprising given his recent encounter with Agent Dewey and CSI Mitchell, but notable nonetheless. He straightened his badge. He knew that this chase – or case – was going to end up in his town, his own backyard.


	23. Chapter 23

Thursday, March 26, 2008; 12:30 PM PST

**Thursday, March 26, 2008; 12:30 PM PST**

'Nothing! Hours of searching and what do we find? There is absolutely not a single trace of Jacob to find in an entire two block radius. The lines of sight to the front door have all been covered by the cadets. This is beyond frustrating!' Jess growled slightly, surprising the men in the break room with her. 'Ah!'

Ryan laughed out loud.

Charles glared openly at him and then turned to Jess. 'Take a deep breath, kiddo!'

She looked at him with her mouth open.

'That was a bad choice of words, Jess, and I apologize. Please smile.' She did, a little bit. 'We learned a lot this morning. Evans is definitely still monitoring the house bugs. He possibly has access to the house while you are gone – do you have a security system?' She shook her head negatively. 'Well, then, he definitely could have been inside the house. And he is still following you.'

'I know that we have not dealt with the technicalities of the jurisdiction issue, but if you send a team into the house to print and check the kitchen, this guy is going to know it. What if I took a kit home with me early this afternoon? I could put the trash and any swabs or prints I collect in trash bags. Jess, you did say that we needed to get some grocery shopping done, right?'

Charles could not help the _'We?'_ that slipped sarcastically through his lips as he looked at the new CSI again.

His head told him that Ryan Wolfe had just flown into San Diego last night, that the man had never met Jessica before, and that he was just doing his job. He was not listening to what his logic was attempting to say.

'Charles! Ry, could you please excuse us for a moment? We need to talk.'

'Uh, sure, Jess. I will be down the hall checking out a field kit from the trace lab, if you need me.' Ryan looked at her intently before walking slowly out of the break room and closing the door quietly.

'What is wrong with you today, Charles? You just about pounced on Ry and me coming in the door this morning. You have been stalking around outside silently for the past four hours, and now you are worried about what noun he and I use when talking about food for the house he is staying in to protect ME. This is ridiculous behavior from a federal agent. Would you care to explain it to me?'

_Do people still use the phrase 'taken aback'? I hope so because I am. I am not wrong about their behavior, am I? _Charles stood and walked to the counter. He put his hands on either side of the sink, his back toward Jess. 'Just drop it, Jess.'

'No.'

_She is such a stubborn woman! _'There is nothing going on. It is just…' He dipped his head down. 'He seems a bit… friendly.'

'Friendly… I see.' She was quiet for a moment. 'I take that back, mister. I do not see. What is wrong with Ryan being friendly? He and I are living under the same roof until Jacob Evans is caught. It would be odd if we did not at least try to be friends.'

'No!' He heard a surprised gasp from the other side of the room, but did not turn. 'You do not have to be friends; you have to be polite. You have to work together, but you do not have to grocery shop together. He is offering to protect you like… like…oh, whatever!'

She smirked at his back. 'You do not need to be jealous of him, Charles. I am capable of having more than one friend at a time. In fact,' she said, walking up beside him and leaning against the counter, 'I have been known to three, four, sometimes eight friends at a time.'

He glanced sideways at her with a chuckle. _She really has no clue. _'Yeah, I suppose you can handle it all. It must be just the stress of not knowing where to find Evans that is making me crazy. I am sorry Jess...forgive me?'

'You know that you should apologize to Ryan, right? Then we can figure out how to get Jacob out from under whatever rock he is hiding under.'

  
**6:30 PM PST**

Jess tiredly unlocked the door. 'Hi, Ryan, I am back from boredom!' She dropped her bag by the hall table and hung her keys on their wall hook. Walking through the living room, she called out again, 'Ryan?'

'Sorry about that, Jess, I had my head in the refrigerator. When was the last time you cleaned this thing out?' He had two sets of gloves and a mask on. He looked like he was preparing for surgery. At her grin, he started to smile, then laugh. Soon they were both doubled over, tears welling up in their eyes.

'Yeah… ummm… sorry about that… even before the last few weeks, it has definitely been a while since I made the time to clean it out. I hate to ask, but you did not happen to do anything for dinner, did you?'

'You have no food, missy. It looks like we are going to have to go with takeout. What are our options?'

'I'll take care of ordering the pizza, then; you finish up in there,' she giggled, 'and get cleaned up for dinner.'

Laughter followed her down the hall and Ryan turned back to expiration dates and crusted mustard caps.

**  
6:40 PM; One Block Behind Jess Mitchell's House**

_Pizza… pizza… how can this work for me? _Jacob Evans was tiring of the pace of this game. As he thought of how to speed the process up, he listened to the girl CSI ordering her pizza.

'Royal Pizza. What do you want on your pizza… please?'

'Could I please have one medium vegetarian with pepperoni and one meat lovers with extra cheese delivered?'

'Your name? And how do you want to pay?'

'This is Jessica Mitchell, my name and address should be on file. I will be paying with cash.'

'Thirty minutes or it is free.' Click.

'Well, goodness… thanks a bundle.'

Jacob heard her slam the phone down unceremoniously. _She is in quite a mood tonight, is she not? And his and hers pizzas, what to do?_

And then it hit him. He knew exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. Thankfully, he had always been charming and the teenage boy on the phone did not begin to sound as though he could care.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Just so you know

A/N: Just so you know... this chapter holds the scariest part of the The Window that I've written so far... you've been warned

**Friday, March 27, 2008; 8:35 AM**

Charles was pacing again. Today he had given them their fifteen minutes. Goodness, he had given them twenty! Next he had called Jess' cell phone twice, then her house phone three times. He stopped his pacing briefly to check the reception on his cell phone. _Four bars; I have not missed any calls. Where are they this time?_ At thirty-five minutes late, he was beginning to worry about Jess; he was even beginning to worry about Ryan.

The Lieutenant approached him from the bank of elevators in the lobby of SDPD Headquarters.

'Is there a problem, Agent?'

The voice of Jess' boss snapped Charles out of his contemplation. 'I am really not sure, sir. CSI Mitchell and CSI Wolfe, from Miami, are thirty-five minutes late and my gut is telling me that something it not right.'

'Are you sure that you are thinking with your gut, son?' The older criminalist chuckled and held up a hand. 'Ignore that. Would you feel better if we sent a patrol car over to her house?'

'No, sir, I would feel better if I took the patrol out to the house myself, if you do not mind.'

'Do it. Just get back here quickly and get this Jacob Evans idiot off of my streets, okay?'

Charles nodded and headed for the door. Turning around briefly, he asked the Lt. to please call a unit to meet him at Jess' address.

_**Flashback: Thursday, March 26, 2008; 11 PM; Residence of Jessica Mitchell**___

'Ry… Rya… Ryan?' He heard a soft thump, knowing that she had slumped back onto his shoulder and into silence.

Sliding open the patio door, he quietly made his way into her house. He had done this before but never in darkness, so his progress was slow.

He held his camera close to his body. It would certainly not do to have it bumping around into the walls and making a racket.

He crept into the living room, remaining in the shadows. His timing was impeccable; he could see her eyes fighting to remain open. He stepped into the light, allowing her eyes to rest upon his form, then upon his face.

He loved her horror; the desperation as she struggled to push herself into her companion. The man beside her had already slipped into dreamland, though, and was useless to her now. He lifted the camera and began snapping photos.

She began to slip further away from consciousness, so he paused, knowing that he could continue his photo shoot when she was out. This could not wait.

He leaned in toward her; though he thought they could not get any wider, her blue eyes did. Her fear made his will much stronger. She would be haunted by this.  
Lifting a hand to her face, he slid it roughly down the side of her face. Then he lifted her chin, tilted her head back farther than would be comfortable and leaned in toward her. She tensed as much as she could with the drugs seeping their way into her system.

Finally, he made his mark on her, biting down on the soft skin at the base of her neck. She passed out from her fear and the medication flooding her system. He retracted himself from her and lifted his camera again. A few more pictures and he slipped back out the way he came in.

**Friday, March 27. 2008; 9 AM, Outside Jess Mitchell's House**

He was tired of pounding on the door. 'Open this door, Jess. I will break it down if necessary! Jessica! Ryan? Jess, open the door!' Charles was now yelling, much to the surprise of the officers behind him. 'Okay, fine; I am coming in…' He took a deep breathe. '… NOW!' He launched himself at the door.

The frame shattered at the lock. _No deadbolt? What? _He and the officers behind him raised their weapons and moved cautiously into the living room.

_No!_ 'Get rescue here, now!' He bent down to check their pulses. _Steady, that is good._ 'Jess, can you hear me? Ryan? Wolfe!'

Ryan heard voices, but struggled to connect them to his world. He moaned. _My goodness, my head hurts a lot. Who is there?_

The Miami CSI began moving underneath Jessica, so Charles shifted his attention to the man, if only out of duty. 'Ryan, man, can you hear me? Open your eyes, man. You have to wake up. Rescue is on its way, but I need your help, Wolfe.'

'Uh.' He tried to move his arms. _What is going on? Something heavy is on me. Why is it so hard to move?_ 'Jess… the movie is over. Uh, Jess?' _My eyes feel like they are weighted down._

'Wolfe! Open your eyes!'

'Wh…' He opened his eyes by half an inch. 'What are you doing here, Dewey?' It was becoming easier to move, but the situation was becoming more difficult to understand. He looked at his side; Jess was leaning against him. 'Wake up, J. Dewey is here. J? Dewey, what on earth is going on? Jess? Wake up Jessica, please, Dewey.'

If he was not serious, he would be really annoying. Charles put his hand on Wolfe's shoulder. 'I have been trying, Ryan. What is the last thing that you remember?'

'Why? What is going on?' _Sirens; I hear sirens. I wonder why._

'Just tell me, Wolfe. What is the last thing you remember?' He squeezed his jaw tightly.

Sensing the Agent's tension, Ryan decided to just tell him. 'Jess got home from work; I think patrol dropped her off. She ordered pizza. The pizza was delivered; we started watching some movie she wanted to see during dinner. Then…' _Why did we not go to bed when the movie ended? _'I cannot remember, Dewey… I can't remember! Why?'

'I wish I could tell you, Wolfe.' The paramedics rushed in the door. Charles turned to face them. 'I need you to call ahead and order full tox-screens for these two. CSI Wolfe has been awake...' He glanced at his watch. '… he has been awake for about five minutes. CSI Mitchell has not regained consciousness. At this point the cause is indeterminate.'

They nodded and began to work on their two patients.

Opening his phone, he dialed the Lieutenant's number. 'Sir, we are going to need a CSU team over here at the house. It looks like Wolfe and Jess were drugged sometime last night.' He nodded. 'Yes, sir, I will go to the hospital with them. The officers will hold the scene for your team.' His brow creased. 'You want me to call Lieutenant Caine? Sir, are you certain? Maybe that call would best come from…' He nodded again. 'I understand. I will make the call immediately. Goodbye.' _What a stupid plan… at least for me. I have to tell Caine that his kid almost got himself killed? Is the Lieutenant crazy?_

_Good luck to me._


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: In the course of writing my first major fanfic, I have discovered that writing our dear Horatio Caine is more challenging than I could have ever imagined

A/N: In the course of writing my first major fanfic, I have discovered that writing our dear Horatio Caine is more challenging than I could have ever imagined... SERIOUSLY! Many thanks to Paulina40 for her incredible help re-writing this (and any following) chapter's Horatio dialogue... I could not have done this without her help!!

**Friday, March 27, 2008; 3:30 PM; Scripps Memorial Hospital**

Jacob had followed the ambulance far enough to determine its destination. _How entirely predictable! Of course, they would take her to the same hospital, they never learn._ Now he could begin torturing the CSI.

He approached the front desk of the hospital. 'I have a delivery for Ms. Jessica Mitchell. She had not been assigned a room when the order was made.'

_'How sweet!' the receptionist gushed. 'Let me see if I can find that room number.' She began to peck away at her computer. 'Yes, yes, she has just been placed in room 413 with a Mr. Wolfe. You can go up now if you like.'_

'Actually, ma'am, I have several more deliveries to make. Would it be possible for an orderly to take these flowers up for me?' He flashed his most winning smile at the woman.

_'Well, that is unusual, but let me see. I know! I will have one of the candy stripers deliver them. Ms. Mitchell will be so pleased.'_

Her naiveté amused him. 'Yes, I am certain they will receive quite a reaction. Thank you so much for your assistance.' He placed the bouquet of apricot Canterbury Bellflowers, yellow carnations, pale yellow hyacinths, tangerine lilies and buttery roses on the desk. Jacob knew that the woman in front of him just thought them pretty; he had studied Jessica long enough to realize that she would know better.

He turned, smiled directly into the security camera above the door and walked out the door to the street. He had parked his car several blocks away; having finally purchased another vehicle, he needed to keep its existence to himself. _If only I could see her reaction to the flowers and her very special card… such a pity!_

**3:35 PM; Jess and Ryan's Hospital Room**

Charles had contacted Dr. Cameron upon arriving at the hospital behind the ambulance. The doctor knew Jess' medical history; he was the best choice to treat her now. With that taken care of, he stepped into the hallway outside Room 413, took a deep breath and dialed to make his dreaded call.

'Horatio.'

Upon hearing his voice so quickly, Charles froze momentarily…just for a fraction of a second.

Horatio waited patiently; he could hear the background noise of a hospital loudspeaker paging someone.

'Yes, sir, I apologize for the pause. This is Agent Charles Dewey.' _Smooth. Great start on this conversation, Dewey._

'Yes Agent Dewey, what can I do for you?'

'Well… ummm… Well, I…' He could not say it. He had failed.

'Something has happened, Agent Dewey.' Horatio stated simply.

'Yes Sir…I am afraid so Sir." Agent Dewey whispered.

"Talk to me." Horatio demanded.

'Evans hit again.' The words came in a rush now. 'He somehow dosed the pizzas that CSI Wolfe and CSI Mitchell ordered for dinner last night. We have not yet determined his method or the drug used. They were not discovered until this morning at nine o'clock our time. They have been transported to the hospital and CSI Wolfe has regained consciousness, but has little memory of what occurred last night.'

'Slow down Agent Dewey.' Horatio instructed. 'I need to ask you some questions, understand?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Good…first, why were they ordering food?'

'I am not aware of the reasons for the pizza order other then the fact that they were hungry Sir…but I will inform you of that as soon as it has been determined.' Charles answered.

"Second, did you have other surveillance on the house?' Horatio inquired his voice calm, his left hand fingering his badge clipped to his waist.

Charles was not fooled; he knew the Lieutenant was angry with them for putting Ryan Wolfe's life in danger along with Jess'. He was fortunate not to be able to see Horatio Caine's blue eyes darken as he stood staring out the window to his office into the Miami evening. He had been on the verge of heading home when Agent Dewey's call came through.

'No sir we had no surveillance for the property and I do apologize for that-'

'You should have realized he would approach the house Agent," Horatio interrupted, 'he has been stalking her for several weeks now correct?'

Charles sighed. 'Yes Sir.'

'How is Jessica doing?' Horatio inquired concern evident in his tone.

'CSI Mitchell is still unconscious. She has had strong reactions to sedatives in the past and the doctors are concerned to give her any further treatment until the tox-report comes in.'

'I see...keep me posted on her condition Agent.'

'Sir, I am sorry.' His distress came in waves now and was clearly evident to Horatio.

'Understood Agent Dewey, but what is done is done.' Horatio replied. "I strongly recommend we change the rules of the game on Evans and catch him off guard.'

'How do we do that Sir?"

'Bring him here,' Horatio replied simply. 'We will play on my field now, with my rules.'

'Yes, sir. As soon as CSI Mitchell is cleared for travel, we will make arrangements, assuming she is still intending on capturing this maniac.'

'Keep me posted Agent.'

The connection ended. Charles stared at the floor. He needed to see her face again.

**4:00 PM**

It was dim in the hospital room. The only light was coming from the over-bed lights. The curtains to the room had been closed to protect the two detectives lying inside. Both Wolfe and Jess had their eyes closed. Charles stood in silent vigil at the end of Jessica's bed, reproaching himself.

Fifteen minutes later Ryan opened his eyes to find him still standing there unmoving. 'Get a chair, man. We could be here for a while.'

'Idiot.' Charles muttered it under his breath, but by the CSIs reaction, he was certain it had been heard. He pulled a chair beside her bed anyways.

'What is your problem, Dewey? I was dosed, too, you know?'

'Yeah, you were, weren't you? Why is that? I thought the point was to protect her, not give her the chance to get killed.' His voice was menacingly low.

'You are right. I made a mistake. We were both hungry and the grocery shopping had yet to be done. It was assumed that he might have dosed the house, not the delivery pizza. Can we move on now? What was in our systems?'

'We will know soon.'

'You need a faster lab.'

The statement was too much for Charles. He was out of his seat in a flash and beside Ryan in another second. 'Do not finish that thought, mister. This should NEVER have happened. You were too busy sucking on her neck to think about your job and she is lucky to just be unconscious in here beside you. What if he had decided to do more? What if he had decided to take her from m… us?'

'Wh… what are you talking about? What is wrong with her neck and where do you get off being hostile with me?'

Luckily the two men were interrupted by a too perky candy striper at the door. She had flowers, yellow and orange flowers.

There was still anger in Charles' voice as he asked where the flowers had come from.

_'Let me see. They were dropped off by the delivery service, I think, at the front desk, then Nat – she is the receptionist – gave them to me, then I came up the elevator and walked down the hall, then I came in here. So here I am and here are the flowers. They are so pretty. Do you think she will want them beside her? Oh, maybe at the foot of the bed, then she can see them when she wakes up. Okay, well, I am leaving now. Bye.'_

Charles and Ryan looked at each other as she breezed out of the room, wondering if she had even been there in the first place. Finally they moved their eyes to the vase. Ryan was the first to speak.

'Who knows that we are here?'

'Your lieutenant, hers and the staff… that is all. And the last time she got orange flowers like this, she almost passed out.' He began to reach for the vase.

'Dude, do not touch that without gloves.' Ryan's voice made Charles jump, knocking a card size envelope from the center of the bouquet. The agent stared at the card intently.

Reaching into the box of gloves above her bed, he slipped a pair on. He carefully lifted the envelope. It was thick for its size. _Interesting._ The flap was tucked into the back of the envelope. _No DNA, again. No writing either… grand!_ He peeked inside and discovered a stack of photographs inside. He pulled them out and gasped, dropping the envelope from his hand.

'What?' Ryan almost yelled at him. _Some federal agent he is; this guy scares easily._

Charles walked over to his bedside and began to flip through the pictures so that Ryan could see. They were so consumed with their task that they missed her initial stirrings in the bed behind Charles.

_'No… no, get away from me. Go. Ryan, help. NO! No, do not touch me. NO!'_

Charles finally turned, as she began to yell and thrash. He reached out, held her hands down and began to talk to her soothingly. 'Jess. Jess, I need you to open your eyes, sweetie.' She was fighting hard; at least he knew why now. He spoke more firmly this time. 'Open your eyes, Mitchell. This is just a nightmare,' he lied. It was allowed for now. 'Time to rise and shine, kiddo. We have a job to do.'

For whatever reason that did the trick and she began to blink slowly. 'Wh… where am I? Where is Ry? What is going on, Charles?'

He saw the moment that the nightmare became reality for her once again. Her fear consumed eyes snapped up to meet his. 'Jac… Jacob was in my house.'

A/N: Based upon their coloring the meaning of the flowers in the bouquet is – _roses: remember me, lilies: hatred/disdain, hyacinth: jealousy, carnations: disdain/rejection and Canterbury bellflowers: warning_


	26. Chapter 26

Friday, March 27, 2008; 4:40 PM

**Friday, March 27, 2008; 4:40 PM**

Charles tossed the handful of picture blindly behind him in the direction of Ryan's bed. He faintly heard the slick paper shuffling and Ryan talking to a nurse through the intercom.

'He… he was standing right over me… and…' She broke down into sobs and attempted to roll away from his grip. 'I l-let him… he touched me…'

Charles' heart wrenched as she fought against him and against the nightmare that was returning to her mind in endless waves. He sat down on the edge of her bed and her entire body tensed, forcing him to rise again. He ran his thumbs gently over her wrists as he held them and she began to push and kick at him even more violently. His palms felt like they had been burned as he released his grip on her; she stopped her thrashing and deepened her weeping. She succeeded in turning her back to the men now and clenched her pillow.

Between gulps for air, they heard muffled questions as she cried them into the mattress. 'Why? How did I let him get so close? When did I become such an idiot? Where is that bastard? Oh, why? I let him touch me. He… he touched my face… I let him touch my face, my skin…'

They saw one her hands release the pillow and reach toward the neck of her hospital gown. Ryan gasped and held his breath. Charles clenched his fists at his side.

'Oh, no… oh, please, no. NO! No. No.' All that they could hear now were a pleading combination of cries and no's as she assaulted her pillow with tears.

Charles could not stand it any longer and escaped the confines of the room, leaving Ryan to stare at the tensed body of his new friend as she berated herself and wept.

**9:45 PM**

'High doses of a simple over-the-counter sedative, Agent… that is all that was in the tox-screens,' Dr. Cameron assured the pacing investigator.

'How did they not know, sir? I mean, that stuff has to taste nasty in large quantities, does it not?'

The physician shook his head. 'In all honesty I do not know. It may have been masked by the pizza – fairly strong flavored stuff. A lot of times, these accidental dosing incidents…'

'This was NOT an accident.'

'My apologies, Agent. These doses go down fairly easily when people are not looking for them. Distracted by the movie, who knows?'

'Did you run a SAE on Jessica, including a swab on her neck wound?' SAE Sexual Assault Exam

'No sign of sexual assault and the swab has been sent to the SDPD lab for processing; though I am not sure that it will do you much good at this point. It was assumed that the mark was non-evidentiary and her face and neck had been wiped several times by the nursing staff to keep her cool.' At Charles' icy gaze, the doctor continued. 'But as I said, the swab has been sent to the lab for processing and photos have been taken into evidence.'

Charles nodded briskly. He knew he was attacking the messenger, but at this point he did not care. 'When can she be released and cleared for travel?'

'I will not release her back into her own care at this point. And where exactly do you plan on taking her? Ms. Mitchell has been emotionally and physically traumatized twice in the past week and I do not care to see her for a third incident.' Dr. Cameron stood his ground in spite of Agent Dewey's stature and demeanor.

'Miami; she is going to Miami. Actually, I am taking her there.' He made the decision in his mind as the words left his mouth. 'We are not going to play Jacob Evans game on his terms any longer. I need to get her out of San Diego and I would like to leave tomorrow.'

'Not going to happen, Agent Dewey.'

'Excuse me?'

'As Ms. Mitchell's physician, I am telling you that she is not leaving this hospital for another three days – at the earliest! On top of her physical condition, at this point, she needs to talk to someone about what happened last night because I refuse to sedate her every time she remembers what happened last night. The game is on hold right now, Agent; I do not care what you think should happen next because you are not her physician.' He turned on his heel, leaving Charles standing in the hospital corridor, mouth agape.


	27. Chapter 27

Saturday, March 28, 2008; 6:45 AM

**Saturday, March 28, 2008; 6:45 AM  
**  
Jess stared silently at the ceiling. Her tears had dried up hours ago. Now she just had the vivid images of his face replaying in her mind. _How did I let him get so close? I let my guard drop so far. I failed in my own mission to trap him. I let myself get distracted. I forgot what my job was for too long. He won; I let him win.  
_  
She knew that Ryan and Charles were hiding things from her. Something had been in the Agent's hand when she first awoke yesterday afternoon; she did not need to see it to know that it was from Jacob Evans. The look on Charles face told her that much. She vaguely remembered flowers being in her room at that time as well, but the nurses had sedated her again at that point and her first moments of fear became blurred memories.

Dr. Cameron had informed her late last night that she was being admitted for a minimum of three days. Monday would be her first chance for escape. _What would that date be…? March 30? Eight weeks and I am still no closer to catching my stalker, my attacker, my tormenter. No, that is just not acceptable._ Her breathing started to become shallower. _He touched me. He was in my home… he won._

_No, no longer._ She needed to speak with someone who understood. Charles was too obsessed with her protection to make a logical sounding board. She picked up the phone.

**10:25 AM EST; On the Beach in Miami**

The breeze stirred his hair. The sound of the waves crashing on the sand slowly seeped into his being, bringing a sense of calm, albeit temporary. He looked out onto the horizon, his mind filled with recollections of his conversation with Agent Dewey yesterday.

'_No sir we had no surveillance for the property and I do apologize for that-'_

'You should have realized he would approach the house Agent," Horatio interrupted, 'he has been stalking her for several weeks now correct?'

Charles sighed. 'Yes Sir.'

Horatio slowly removed his sunglasses. He should have been more involved in protecting Mr. Wolfe and Miss Mitchell. He had given Evans just the space he needed; he had allowed the man a window. _Not a window, actually… quite literally a patio door._ He knew better. His training had taught him to be prepared and he had not.

He sank slowly to sit on the sand, ignoring the cool dampness of it through his suit. _If I had paid attention, if I had taken control, Evans would not… but I let down my guard… just because he was not here, in my city._ He knew that only his own streets, his own backyard would even the odds now.

'_I strongly recommend we change the rules of the game on Evans and catch him off guard.'_

'How do we do that Sir?'

'Bring him here,' Horatio replied simply. 'We will play on my field now, with my rules.'

As the waves pounded the shore, they beat the message into his soul – _never again, never again, never again._ He would not let this maniac past his guard again. The next time the man would face Horatio Caine. _Never again, never again, never again…_

The shrill buzzing of his phone pulled Horatio out of his thoughts.

'Horatio.'

'Good morning, sir, this is CSI Jess Mitchell from San Die…'

'Miss Mitchell, good morning." He replied. "How are you doing this morning?'

'I am fine, sir.' He heard the lie in her voice clearly.

'Good Miss Mitchell...now what can I do for you today?'He prodded, gently, intent on helping her expose the lie.

He had been informed of what had occurred in the hospital room and the fact that Jacob had assaulted her while she was under the effects of the drug.

She paused; she did not know how to ask him. She had been a CSI for years, but her life had, until this point, always been secure. _How do I move on from this? How do I get my life back? Where does the strength come from?_

'It will take time.' He said gently.

_I did not express my questions out loud, did I?_ She held her breathe.

'You take one moment at a time, Miss Mitchell; that is how you will get through it." Horatio instructed.

'H-how did you know what I wanted to say Lieutenant?' she asked, finding her voice.

He removed his glasses and smiled slightly, still looking out at the horizon where sky and ocean meet. 'Just know that I understand, Miss Mitchell.'

Jessica let her head sink back into the pillow of her hospital bed. 'Okay, we can say that… for now. Is there anything concrete that I can do to fix this ache? I feel like I have lost some part of myself that can never be replaced. On top of that, Ryan was hurt as well. How many more people will have to get hurt before I finish with Evans?'

'Do not take Jacob's actions onto yourself, Miss Mitchell,' Horatio replied simply. 'If he gets to anyone else, that is not your responsibility, understand?' The irony was not lost on Horatio.

Jess sighed into the phone, "I understand."

'Good…I spoke with Agent Dewey yesterday.'

'Oh. He did not mention that.'

'I am not surprised; he is worried about you. "

'Too worried for him to talk to me, Lieutenant,' she replied.

'I gave Agent Dewey two options Miss Mitchell.' Horatio explained. 'One is to drop the hunt for Evans.'

She squelched the denial that rose up in her throat, glancing over at Ryan to be certain that he was still asleep. 'Not a chance, Lieutenant, you cannot possibly expect me to do that.'

_How could Charles even think that I would agree to drop this?_ She thought.

Horatio chuckled softly into the phone. 'I thought not; so it seems to me that you may find option two more appealing then…it will however require a bit of acting and traveling on your part.'

Jess smiled. 'I always was a drama queen.'

Horatio grinned, having to admit to himself that Miss Mitchell had determination. 'You will like Miami in the springtime and I will enjoy having this predator Jacob in my neighborhood once again.'

'Sounds like a plan…when do I fly out…tonight?'

'No, ma'am.'

'Sir?'

'Minimum of three days and it may be possible that we may need a little bit longer than that to convince Evans that you are actually coming here.'

He was met by silence. 'Miss Mitchell?'

Her voice was small. 'I do not want to be here anymore, Lieutenant. This city… it is like this city has become his, instead of mine. I am not sure that I can last more than three days.'

'You can and you will Miss Mitchell.' He replied, pausing briefly, 'We will get you through these days together, understood?'

'Yeah… I mean, yes, yes, I can.' She paused; when she spoke, her tone was gentle. 'Thank you, Lieutenant.'

He smiled as he slipped his sunglasses back onto his face. 'You are welcome, Miss Mitchell… could you please have Mr. Wolfe call me when he wakes up?'

'Absolutely; I will talk to you later then, right?'

'Yes, ma'am, and you will be okay until someone arrives to keep you company.'

'I will now, Lieutenant...and thank you again.'

'Anytime.' He hung up quietly.

He remained staring out at the ocean for a long while afterward. The sound of the waves on the shoreline was no longer so empty. _They are my people this time, not solely victims._ She had reminded him of her presence in this battle. He was not alone in his journey to take Evans down. Horatio knew that he was not weak, neither was she. And she would bring this fight to him, for herself, for Ryan, for Jacob Evan's victims who had come before them.

He rose from the sand, adjusting his badge at his hip as he turned toward the hummer. Before climbing into the vehicle, he gave the waves one last glance over his shoulder and a nod. _Never again, indeed._


	28. Chapter 28

Saturday, March 28, 2008; 1:30 PM PST

**Saturday, March 28, 2008; 1:30 PM PST**

Though she was still trapped in a hospital bed, in Jess' mind this day had brightened considerably from when she had first opened her eyes.

Ryan had called Horatio and, though their conversation was brief, he seemed to be treating her with a less protective attitude than Friday had revealed. She had put in calls to Charles, her Lieutenant and the department receptionist Carissa, asking them all to be in the hospital at half past one. Carissa was quite confused on the phone, but Jess hoped that she would be a willing participant in the next step in '_The Plan_', as she now called it in her mind.

After assuring Dr. Cameron that she was "quite herself" today, he had allowed the nurses to bring in the extra chairs that Jess needed for her afternoon meeting. The ladies had even helped the CSI tame her curls, making her feel even more prepared.

That is until they walked in the door. All bravado left her when she glimpsed the Lieutenant's scowl and Charles' concern-filled disapproval. Ryan had kept to himself most of the morning, but she could now see by his silent, yet overt communication with Charles that he did not approve either.

'Please have a seat.' She looked at her hands as they knotted the sheet covering her legs. At this point, stilling them would be useless. She could only hope for an advocate in Carissa as she cautiously made her way into the room.

'Ma'am?'

'Thank you for coming, Carissa. I realize this is unusual and please call me Jess.' She hazarded a glance at the young woman; a shy smile reflected in Carissa's eyes at the recognition. Thank goodness for small miracles!

'You all know each other, so we'll skip the intro…'

Charles leaned forward onto his knees. 'Jess, what the he!! are we doing here? You need to be resting.'

'I have been resting, _thank you_. You are here because it seems that I have to be briefed by Lieutenant Caine from Miami to find out the status of this case. You are here because like him, I have tired of this mouse-chases-cat game we have been playing with Jacob Evans thus far.' She paused, and then finally looked him in the eye. 'You are here because you have withheld from and lied to me for the last time.'

The federal agent sat back in shock. Ryan remained silent, but she could see his bemused expression in the corner of her eye.

'Ryan Wolfe… Ry, you are not off the hook either.' She gave him a sideways glance. 'You cannot help protect me if you do not tell me the truth. What was delivered to the hospital yesterday?'

'No!' burst the Lieutenant and Charles.

'Gentlemen, I do not mean to be insubordinate, but I asked Ry what happened. I am not some frail flower. I am a lead CSI for the San Diego Police Department and I deserve to know the details of my own assault case.'

She was met by silence. Agent Dewey's threatening stare at Ryan led the younger man to simply shrug.

'Fine. Carissa, you do not have to answer any of my questions if you chose, but I would like to know what evidence came in yesterday from the hospital.' She looked at the woman kindly. Jess hated to put her in this position, but she was running out of options and she was running out of time.

**  
3:15 PM**

Jacob had been monitoring the main entrance of the hospital all afternoon. He knew she had visitors. Mr. Tall… _stupid federal man…_ and the SDPD lead man had entered the building about two hours ago. That seemed like a long visit. Jacob was a patient man.

_Ah, here they are! Who is the blond with them? I have seen her at the police department before, but never with Mitchell and never at a crime scene. I wonder what is going on in there._

He watched as the obviously disgruntled older police man climbed into his department cruiser, slamming the door. Mr. Dewey began guiding the young woman to his black sedan. _Interesting… I wonder where they are headed. _Knowing further surveillance of the hospital entrance would likely yield nothing, he decided to follow the Agent. If nothing else, his companion could prove interesting… he laughed cynically to himself.

Slipping the car into gear, he easily found the perfect distance to tail the pair as they drove away from the hospital. Once he realized their destination he flipped on his surprisingly still functional surveillance equipment in the back seat.

**3:45 PM; Jessica Mitchell's House**

'Sir, I want you to know that I meant no disrespect in the hospital.' Carissa was getting uncomfortable with the silence. She glanced at her watch. _It has been thirty minutes since we left the hospital and still not a word from the man. How does CSI Mitchell handle this?_ No matter what the CSI had said in the meeting, she could not imagine calling her by her given name.

Charles looked at the woman standing rather fearfully behind him at Jessica's door. 'I understand why you did it.' _Do I? At least I understand the courage she demonstrated; there was a time when I had it myself. Might as well congratulate her at least, welcome her to the team. _'Con… ahem…Carissa, we will just get what we need and get out of here, okay?' Any positive words lodged in his throat.

She shrugged as she passed him in the doorway. _Apparently I am still in the doghouse. Work should be interesting tomorrow morning!_ 'Will you please bring me the suitcases from the garage, as CSI Mitchell requested, sir? I will be in her bedroom preparing the clothes needed for your trip.' Carissa did not even lift her eyes to look at him.

It was a rare thing for her to be involved in the CSIs lives. She knew she was the receptionist; her friends were the other departmental assistants at SDPD. Unlike the others, though, CSI Mitchell had always treated her with respect and kindness. And being included was a nice change. _I have no intention of failing, even if this is a small job._

She pulled Jessica Mitchell's detailed list from her pocket. _How does a person know where each and every item of clothing is located? Amazing._ Carissa began to stack the various items in neat piles on the bed. By the time Agent Dewey came down the hall, she was humming as she prepared the requested toiletry bag.

'Miss… ummm… Carissa?'

'In here, sir.'

'Oh, okay; I will leave this suitcase by the bed for you. Do you need help with anything else?'

'No. Please shut off the gas and double check the refrigerator for us, Agent Dewey.'

Charles stared in awe at the bathroom door. He had never paid any attention to the woman before and now her confidence gave him pause. She countered her Lieutenant, her boss, and now she is telling me what to do. _Not that I agree, but I am impressed._

'Fine. I will be in the living room making Jess' and my airline reservations for Saturday's flight to Miami while I wait.' _No point in being covert here; I sure hope that Evans is still listening to these bugs. If he is not, we are in a boatload of trouble here._

**4:05 PM**

_I cannot believe this. Why is she leaving San Diego? What does she gain in Miami? That is my home, I know it best. Who does that little CSI think she is?_

Jacob's fury grew as he sat in the car, just one block from CSI Mitchell's home. He wanted to toy with her here, to make her forget and regret every moment of her life in this place. Jacob wanted to own every one of her memories.

_Difficult, but not impossible; I can still accomplish my goal. I will just do it in a different location._ He was not about to be deterred now.

He continued to listen to the blond woman hum and the Agent pacing the living room, likely on hold with the airline. Suddenly, the silence in the bedroom was deafening; he turned the volume up and was startled by the woman's voice as she spoke directly to him.

**  
4:15 PM**

Carissa waited until Agent Dewey was fully distracted with his phone call in the living room before closing the door. CSI Mitchell had been fairly certain that a bug was planted in her bedroom, though where was still a mystery. She pulled her second sheet of instructions out of her purse. The men did not know of these private words that Jessica had passed to her new 'confidante'.

_Here goes nothing._

_'This is a message for Jacob Evans from CSI Jessica Mitchell of the San Diego Police Department.' _She tried valiantly to quell the tremors in her voice. _'Mr. Evans, you have not won and you will not win. I will never give in to your torment. You believe you have a direct view into my life, but you do not. I have looked into the window of your soul; I have seen the evil inside of you. Your criminal endeavors will end soon and you will spend the rest of your days in a six by nine foot cell. It may be here in San Diego or it may be with Lieutenant Caine in Miami, but you will be apprehended. You will be tried and you will be convicted because I will be there with the evidence to be sure that justice is served. Remember, Jacob, remember my name. I am CSI Mitchell and I am not done with you yet.'_

That said Carissa collapsed shaking onto the bed.


	29. Chapter 29

Sunday, March 29, 2008; 4:49 PM EST

**Sunday, March 29, 2008; 4:49 PM EST**

'Delko.'

'Hey, Eric, man, am I glad to hear your voice! How are my plants? Did you empty the trash before Wednesday's pickup? Make sure to check the expiration date on the milk and toss it before it goes bad. And… ummm… could you wash…'

Eric began to laugh; he just could not stop himself. He leaned against the stucco covered wall by Ryan's condo door and slid gently down it, dropping the door keys in the process, his shoulders shaking with mirth. Calleigh plucked the phone from his grasp before it also fell unceremoniously to the ground. She held out her hand to Eric and he placed the keys in her palm as she rolled her eyes at him.

At the other end of the line, Ryan looked stunned. His gasp brought Jess' eyes up from her book to meet his. Her blue eyes answered his confusion with a simple yet directed, '_What?_' He shrugged, and then held up his finger.

'This is CSI Duquesne; with whom am I speaking?'

'Calleigh, this is Ryan. What is wrong with Eric? I started asking him some questions about the status of my condo and all of a sudden he's busting his gut laughing at something. What is going on there? Are you at some weird crime scene or something?'

'Well, hi, Ryan. No, we are actually right outside of your place. Eric brought me so I could make sure that everything is taken care of properly.'

'This is the first time he has been over there?'

Calleigh smiled, the only hint that indicated her amusement as she unlocked the door. 'I am not really sure about that Ryan. You will have to ask Eric about that when he calms down.' She paused and crinkled her nose. _Eric, do you smell that?_

_What do you think it is? It smells like something died in here._

'Calleigh! Calleigh! Oh, man, I knew that I should never have asked Delko to watch my place. He has killed the plants, hasn't he? And did he take out the trash on Wednesday? If he used my towels I am burning them when I get home, Calleigh!!' Ryan was spiraling quickly into his obsessive compulsive disorder OCD and began counting the ceiling tiles again. He already knew there were thirty-two whole tiles, eight horizontal half tiles and five vertical half tiles from his struggle through yesterday's meeting with Jess and the team.

Calleigh was beginning the worry that their call had been dropped when she heard Ryan's quiet counting into the hospital room. 'Ryan, it is me, Calleigh and I need you to pay attention to me right now. There is nothing to worry about here. Eric did forget to take out the trash, but it is taken care of now. I am going to check up on your plants while the condo airs out a bit. When do you come home?'

'Ummm… ummm… looks like I will be coming back to Miami on Tuesday evening. They want me to get there before the San Diego personnel fly in on Saturday. Horatio wants this team protected while they are with us.'

'No episodes like this week, right?' Calleigh had already been briefed by Horatio on the status of the Evans case.

'Exactly. This Homeland Security agent on the case, Charles Dewey looks like he will be staying with me. I am not sure what H has planned for Jess, but I suppose that is why I am flying back early.'

'It seems logical to have her stay with me… what was her name again?'

'CSI Jessica Mitchell. The thing is, Cal, is that, she is, well… she… she is quiet and shy, especially around guys. And with you and Eric…' He let the thought hang. _Maybe talking about this over the phone was not such a great plan. Either that of maybe she will be over her anger by th…_

'Ryan Wolfe, are you insinuating that I cannot have a week without Mr. Delko staying at my house?'

'Well, no, I, ummm…'

'Good. Could you please put CSI Mitchell on the line for a moment? It was nice to talk to you, Ryan. Good bye.'

**2:05 PM; PST**

Ryan was dumbfounded as he reached between his and Jess' beds to hand her the cell phone. 'Calleigh… I mean, CSI Calleigh Duquesne would like to speak with you, J.'

Her eyes pled with his to not force her to take the call; he shrugged and tossed the phone onto her bed. Ryan Wolfe felt slighted by his friends, in no mood to argue.

Jess cautiously raised the phone to her ear. She could hear a man and a woman talking about when cacti should or should not be watered. _One of them must be CSI Duquesne._ 'Ma'am, excuse me, ma'am.' She knew she sounded mousy, but too worried about the conversation itself to do a thing about her voice. 'Excuse me!'

A soft southern accent answered her this time. 'I am so sorry, CSI Mitchell. My _colleague_ and I are attempting to take care of Ryan's plants while he is with you. _Eric, just do it the way that I told you to, please. _Like I said, I am sorry, Ms. Mitchell. I am CSI Calleigh Duquesne, Miami-Dade Crime Lab, one of Mr. Wolfe's teammates.'

'Hi, CSI Duquesne and please call me Jess or Jessica. Ry, mentioned that someone out there might be able to find me a hotel for our stay. Agent Dewey will be at Ry's place, so I just need to find a place for myself.'

'Don't be silly, Jess; you will stay with me, of course. And please, call me Calleigh or Cal.'

'Cal, I just do not want to be a bother. It is probably easier for you if I stay in a hotel.'

'Well, no, because then we would have to rent you a car and drive two cars to the lab every morning and eat dinner alone. Above all, it was the purpose of Ryan's visit to protect you, right? Well, you still need protection when you are here and I am the best shot on the team.'

Jess heard loud protestations from the background; it sounded like the man was saying something about unfounded rumors and lies. She assumed the man was Calleigh's boyfriend, which would make staying with her even more uncomfortable.

'And, Jess, sweetie, do not worry your mind about Delko, here. He will be just fine on his own for a little while.' Calleigh lowered her voice to whisper conspiratorially, _'it reminds him of why he loves me as much as he does… even though he would never admit that in public._'

'If you are sure, Cal…'

'Absolutely! Now tell me, when does Ryan come in and when do you and Agent Dewey fly in? The boys are so bad about finding out the important details.'

Other than a few close friends, Jess did not really do the 'girl talk' thing, so she was grateful to have information that she could relay to CSI Duquesne. Her Southern accent was oddly soothing, for a California native, but the social aspect of the conversation still made Jess begin shrinking into herself figuratively and literally. When the women ended the call ten minutes later, details arranged, Jess was curled up in a ball, facing away from Ryan and crying soundlessly as she clutched the sheets. All she could do was think; think about the small life that she used to have and live and love. So she thought, and she knew that her next call would be back to Miami, to her safety net.


	30. Chapter 30

Sunday, March 29, 2008; 7:30 PM PST; A Rundown Motel in San Diego

**Sunday, March 29, 2008; 7:30 PM PST; A Rundown Motel in San Diego**

To say that Jacob Evans was angry would have been a major understatement. He had, in the past twenty-four hours, moved well beyond angry. If he had been prone to enraged outbursts or ill-planned retribution, today would have been occasion for the behavior to surface; but his furor was still tightly controlled, roiling inside of him, searching for the perfect avenue of escape.

Jacob had spent his day waiting for recognizable activity in his car outside of the hospital, but other than a brief visit by Agent Dewey at noon, all had been quiet. Thankfully, though, his hands had been busy.

A trip to the hardware and computer stores this morning had provided him with the resources needed to make his surveillance of the CSIs residence and the pretty blonde secretary's desk more portable. He needed the ability to monitor their conversations after he left on Tuesday – he knew it would take him 3 days to drive from here to Miami, another to be prepared to do his work in his hometown.

So, by twisting wires and connecting wireless transmitters, Jacob had redesigned his bug system for Jessica's house. _Who needs a radio when I can be entertained by her heedless and mindless chatter for the entire journey?_ He had also built a bug and a surprise for the woman that had the idiotic gall to threaten him on Ms. Mitchell's behalf. _Blonde Carissa should have known better, working around those police officers all the time. Such a shame that I will not be here to enjoy the show…_

Tempted as he was to institute the last half of his plan while in San Diego, he realized that the likelihood of his capture increased drastically with every contact he made with them. _Simply unacceptable; I will have to hear about all of the excitement vicariously, _he thought, a perverse smile spreading across his face. _Jessica will feel this whether she sees it or not! Guilt is a powerful enemy._

**Monday, March 30, 2008; 9:06 AM PST**

Ryan flipped quietly through a magazine lying on the side table in Jess' hospital room. He had been technically released this morning, but knew inside himself that he would not be leaving her side until he boarded his plane back home tomorrow afternoon. Though confused slightly be his conversation with Delko and Calleigh yesterday afternoon, he was thankful for the results. _Even though I have to suffer through Dewey's presence, at least I can count on J being safe. Calleigh's is the next best place to my condo._ He knew that Horatio would never have let Jessica stay in a hotel, no matter how stubborn she was, but he still felt better knowing exactly where they planned for her to be.

She began to stir in her hospital bed; her sleep last night had been minimal, rocked again by nightmares. He knew that had she not been trapped by his presence and hospital protocol, she would have been pacing again, as she had throughout his first night in San Diego.

'Jess, are you awake?'

'Ummm… yeah, Ry; what time is it? It feels like I hardly slept at all, though I am guessing that it is late since you are already up and dressed.' She smiled sleepily in his direction.

Returning her grin, he chuckled lightly. 'It is just after nine, kiddo. You missed an ever so exciting hospital breakfast. Do you want me to order you something? I can send the officer for it.'

She grimaced and blushed. 'Let me guess – Charles and the Lieutenant felt it was… prudent… to place a guard outside the door.' She paused for effect. 'Of course, they were _only_ thinking of my protection at the time, right?'

'Come on, Jess. You would have done the same thing if either of them had been in this position. I know it is no fun, but I am guessing that one of them knows where to get a good cup of coffee and a muffin for you.' _Bribery with food is supposed to work on women, right?_ Ryan began to wish that he knew and understood Calleigh and Natalia a little bit better than he did; maybe then he would not be at such a loss when dealing with Jess.

'If I was not so hungry and in need of caffeine, this distraction would not have worked, Mr. Wolfe.' She yawned and her stomach grumbled simultaneously, reinforcing the point. 'You might as well get one of those guys in here to take my order.' _Just what a guy wants, a protection detail with the perk of personal shopper. My reputation is going to be destroyed at this rate._

After making her apricot-blueberry muffin and café cubano request of the officer, Jess was saved further embarrassing conversation with Ryan by the chirping of her cell on the hospital table.

'CSI Mitchell'

'Good morning, Ms. Mitchell. This is Carissa; I hope that I did not wake you, ma'am.'

'Absolutely not, Carissa, and please call me Jess. What is going on?'

'Well, ma'am, I wanted to give you the status report on our special conversation with Mr. Evans on Saturday night.'

'Oh, yeah! How did it go?' Ryan followed the patrol out of the room, freeing Jess to ask the question she really wanted answered. 'Did you get it done without Charles realizing it?'

'Yes, the whole thing got out, though I am completely uncertain as to how because I was shaking so badly. I thought for sure Agent Dewey would realize something was going on when I came out of your room. I think that I looked as though I had seen a ghost.' The receptionist laughed lightly. 'Of course, he may have just assumed that I was still frightened by him; that man is rather intimidating.'

'That he is, Carissa. He did not do anything to bully you after you left the hospital, did he?' She gritted her teeth just thinking about the possibility.

'No, ma'am, he just gave me the silent treatment most of the time. I believe that he was rather displeased with the fact that I told you about the evidence for your case, but I really thought that you deserved to know. I apologize if that causes any trouble for you.'

'No more than I would have been in otherwise! I wish we could know if Jacob received our message, but I suppose we will find out soon enough if we pushed any of his buttons, right? You risked a lot to take part in this and I am really thankful for your help. Please keep me informed if anything new comes through your desk, okay?'

'You are welcome, Ms Mitchell. It certainly is not every day that I get to help threaten a serial robber and murderer. If I had not been so nervous it might have actually been fun.' She smiled into the phone.

Jess giggled, then quieted as Ryan came back into the room. 'Well, I better go, Carissa, because my breakfast has arrived. Thanks again for your help in packing and taking care of _things_ at the house.' She hoped the woman understood her meaning; in order for this threat to play out naturally, she thought it was necessary for the men on her case not to know about it. She accepted the pastry bag and coffee cup that Ryan held out to her.

_Is everything alright, J?_ He whispered quietly.

She nodded. 'We will talk more in the next few days, okay?'

**9:31 AM PST; SDPD Headquarters**

'_I understand, miss. Let me know if I can do anything more to help.'_ Carissa disconnected the call quickly, as Agent Dewey approached her desk. 'Good morning, sir. Can I assist you with anything today?' Despite his cool demeanor with her two days ago, she could not resist being polite to the man. Were it not for his dark hair and eyes, his build and stature would have surely made her mistake him for a Nordic god. _Who can truly resist pools of chocolate?_ She thought as she smiled up at him.

_This woman is a study in opposites! One day she is confident and cold as… cold as… oh, I don't know!_ He could not think when she smiled at him like that, like there was nothing in the world wrong and if there was then she could fix it. 'Good morning, Carissa. Ummm… have we heard anything on CSI Mitchell's status?' He tried to sound nonchalant.

She nodded. 'Yes, sir, she is doing well this morning and should be released tomorrow afternoon in time to accompany CSI Wolfe to the airport for his flight. He was released this morning, but the Lieutenant has requested that he remain at the hospital with the protection detail until he leaves tomorrow.'

'I see.'

She knew he did not see. The tension between Agent Dewey and CSI Wolfe would have been obvious to anyone who cared to look. She was no dummy when it came to recognizing two men trying to mark their territory. _Funny that neither of them can see that Jess is not interested in them at all! Maybe I should help him out a bit…_

'Sir, I hate to put myself where I do not belong again, but would you mind if I am blunt with you?'

_Again! Like there is anything I could do to stop you, miss._ He nodded instead.

'CSI Mitchell… Jess… she is not interested in Ryan, sir. There is someone else.'

His jaw dropped, dumbfounded. 'Would you care to tell me who that is and how exactly you came to this conclusion, miss?'

Carissa ignored his sarcasm. 'It was obvious during our meeting on Saturday, _sir_, that he is just her friend… as are you. All I did was look around the room. Her heart and her strength were coming from someone who was not there – someone much farther away than the two of you posturing in front of her.' She could tell immediately that she had struck a nerve. _At least he is paying attention to me now… hmpf… like this is the attention that I actually wanted!_

Charles just stared at the blonde before him, trying to cause her to flinch with his intent gaze. She did not more; she just looked at him honestly and resolutely. _It is as if she planned this to torture me. Ah! Women!_ He turned on his heel and stalked toward the bank of elevators.

As the doors to the elevator slipped closed behind him, he heard her call out a cheery '_you are welcome, Agent Dewey._' This time he muttered aloud to the walls around him – _WOMEN!_


	31. Chapter 31

Monday, March 30, 2008; 4:59 PM PST

**Monday, March 30, 2008; 4:59 PM PST**

He did not think it was possible for two women who worked for the police department, one of them being a CSI, could be so completely dumb. It surprised him that he had so completely underestimated the fairer sex.

'CARISSA!'

The entire lobby froze; it was highly unusual for a large man to stalk off of the elevator toward the reception desk yelling.

'Carissa… follow me to the car. We are going to the hospital.'

She stood up, agape. 'No, Agent Dewey, I am not going anywhere. I am going to finish preparing the front desk for the night shift. After I finish, I will drive home to my cat and a nice warm bath… maybe even a glass of wine. In case you did not notice, going in your car to the hospital was not on that list.' She turned her back to him, re-filing several papers and beginning to restock the printer.

He had slipped behind the desk before she could even open the first printer paper drawer. 'Carissa, you delivered her message and you are going to be there when I confront her… well, both of you about this little incident on Saturday night.' He slipped his arm around her waist. 'Now… let's go.'

'Hey, what… what are you doing? Agent!' He had her moving so quickly that she did not have time to react until they were almost out the door. 'I do not want to do this,' she ground into his ear.

Charles did not even hesitate, pushing the door open and fairly dragging the department receptionist beside him. He ignored her threat.

_I really do not want to do this. _Carissa had never used her self-defense class moves outside of the studio (and she certainly never intended to use them on a law enforcement officer), but as she and Agent Dewey approached the parking structure, she knew that she had to make a decision. 'One more chance, Charles; let me go and tell me what is going on.'

He laughed.

_Last straw… the first two moves should do in this situation. Solar plexus… instep…_

'What the he…?' He backed away from her quickly, giving Carissa the chance to put the car between them.

'What I did not finish the rest of the moves on you?' She turned on a rather false innocent tone in her voice.

'The rest of the moves? What are you, Carissa, a spy?' Charles was still trying to hold his side and foot while maintaining his balance.

She laughed. 'No, not a spy, just a twenty-first century woman who took a self-defense class and the rest of the moves are nose and groin, so never grab me away from my desk again. Good night, Charles.' She turned back toward the building.

'Okay, you win. Did Jess tell you why you were threatening Jacob Evans? Did she tell you that you would now be in danger also?' She stopped, he waited. 'She did tell you that this man has murdered in two states, held at least one woman at knife point and eluded us for the past two weeks? Did she remind you that she has been injured by this maniac…TWICE?'

Carissa paled as she turned her head to the side and watched the federal agent move toward her. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the bottom of her suit jacket.

'I am right, am I not?' He took several more limping steps close to her. 'Give me the truth, Carissa. Why did Jess want to threaten Jacob so personally?'

'The only thing I can tell you is that she is not getting her ideas from around here, Charles; the rest is Jess' to tell.' She faced him fully now. 'Were you serious about me being in danger now?'

**Tuesday, March 31, 2008; 11AM PST; San Diego International Airport**

Jess watched as Ryan checked his bag and snagged his boarding pass from the machine in front of him. She threaded her arm through his, ignoring the police detail following them closely.

'Sorry that I made you late, Ry,' she smiled. 'You know that hospital checkout process can be _so_ unpredictable.'

'Especially when you checkout AMA, Jess… another day would not have hurt you.' His tone was light, though his held a touch of reproof. AMA – against medical advice

'But I would not be here with you… you know you cannot win this, Mr. Wolfe.'

He laughed this time. 'I know.' He squeezed his arm against his side. 'Promise me that you will stay alive and make it to Miami on Saturday?'

She stopped their trek toward the security checkpoint and turned to face him. 'Ry, you know I can take care of this. Lieutenant Caine and I have it all worked out for while I am in San Diego and you all will take care of me when I get to Miami.' Jess pulled him into an impromptu hug, awkward yet sweet. 'No more mistakes, Ry, I promise,' she whispered into his ear.

Ryan did not have the slightest idea of what to do with his hands; in the end he just patted her back. _When this is all over, Calleigh and Natalia are giving me chick lessons!_ 'Okay, then… I will see you on Saturday then.'

'Yes, sir, see you then!' She watched as one of the police guards and Ryan approached the TSA checkpoint, then turned to her two officers and said, 'okay, guys, we are headed back to the lab. Here we go.'

**Wednesday, April 1, 2008; 3:24 PM EST; Miami High School**

'H, this scene… it is just weird, even for April Fool's Day. I mean, it seems as though some kids screwed with a sprinkler system to have it spray… well, green jell-o… and then set a fire in the chemistry lab.' Eric crossed his arms as he stood in the goopy hallway. 'This emergency exit is the only anomaly.'

'We need to find the genius who thought that this was a good idea.' Horatio replied.

Eric nodded. 'I bet they didn't realize this joke would end up killing a teenager either.'

'I bet he isn't laughing either.' Horatio replied as he slipped his sunglasses back on and headed towards the exit.

Having almost reached the exit, he heard the familiar chirp of his cell phone.

'Horatio' he answered.

'Happy April Fool's Day, Lieutenant.' The voice said sarcastically. 'Bet you do not have any idea who this is do you?'

Horatio stopped on the steps just outside the high school. He tilted his head slightly to the side, a slight smile coming to his face.

'Mister Evans…to what do I owe this pleasure?'

'I thought that we should speak again, Lieutenant.' Jacob spat out. 'It has been quite some time since we checked in with one another…and I was curious how you were faring with that Jell-o escapade…I understand that the first floor exit door did not work; such a shame… I wonder if anyone was injured.'

Horatio motioned to Calleigh to his side as he spoke into the phone. 'Care to explain?'

'That would take all the fun out of it, Caine. I just wanted to keep you busy until your friends and I arrive on Saturday. I am so looking forward to seeing you again.'

'The feeling is not mutual.' He retorted as he terminated the conneciton.

Horatio turned to Calleigh. 'Did Tyler get his location from the phone trace?'

'He started it, H, but this Evans' guy really knows what he is doing. Tyler says that he ended the call with about ten seconds left on the trace program and because of that, the best he can do is Texas.'


	32. Chapter 32

**Wednesday, April 1, 2008; 1:05 PM PST; SDPD Parking Garage**

Carissa hated taking a late lunch, but with the madness surrounding CSI Mitchell, her own involvement in the Jacob Evans case and the department's now permanently-vacationing DHS Agent Dewey, her job, not to mention her life, had become almost too much to handle. This morning she had almost signed for another shipment that she had not looked at; the final straw had been fifteen prank phone calls that came in between 12:34 PM and 12:41 PM on three different lines that required a twenty minute interview with one of the CSIs. She did not have any information, but that did not seem to matter to the new guy on CSI Mitchell's team.

Now her only thought was to listen to her iPod while she ate her lunch in the car – the break room and her gossiping reception buddies held no appeal.

Had she been thinking clearly, the fact that her interior lights did not turn on after she hit her remote might have triggered her radar. Had she been focused, the newly loud radio volume might have disturbed her as she started the engine. And had her morning not been exhausting, the inability of her window to roll down as she depressed the button might have hit her in fewer than forty seconds.

But, of course, she was not thinking clearly, she was not focused and her morning had been exhausting.

None of these things struck her until her third try at the windows.

She tried to open the door; it was locked. _Did I lock the doors when I got in the car? Maybe…_ She pulled the door lock and could not budge it.

Carissa reached for the volume knob on the car stereo to turn the sound down and think. The knob turned; the volume never changed.

_Okay… this is okay… I will just call the lab and someone will come out and free me._ She pulled her cell phone out. _No bars, no reception… the only problem is that I ALWAYS have reception in here! _She dialed anyways. _Nothing…_

_Okay, just breathe. This has gone from odd to freaky now. They will realize that you are gone soon enough; there is nothing dangerous about this situation._

Five minutes later, her weak pounding on the glass received no one's attention; her slump in the seat went unnoticed.

**1:12 PM PST; SDPD A/V Lab**

'Charles, I have looked through this phone dump from reception for twenty minutes and I still cannot explain why these prank calls bounced through so many satellites between here and Texas. It really does not make sense to call it anything other than an April fool's joke.' Her phone rang. 'Just give me a minute… _CSI Mitchell._'

'_Ms. Mitchell, Horatio Caine.'_

'_Lieutenant Caine, it is a surprise to hear from you, sir. We just spoke two days ago. What can I do for you today?'_

'_I heard from Mr. Evans an hour ago. We traced his call to somewhere in Texas. Anything unusual for you today, ma'am?'_

'_Prank calls, sir, but other than that it has been a rather… wait, did you say Texas, sir?'_

'_Yes, ma'am; is there a problem?'_

'_Our prank calls bounced around a lot, but they definitely originated in Texas.'_

'_Interesting, Ms. Mitchell. Can you tell me who took the calls please?'_

'_That would be… oh, no – _Charles, where is Carissa?'

'Jess, what do you mean? Why do we need to find her? We already took her statement.'

'Because the calls were from Jacob Evans… just find her!_ Lieutenant, I apologize for the interruption, but apparently I need to find a member of my team. May I catch you up on the details later, sir?'_

'_Certainly; keep me posted, ma'am.'_ The connection was broken.

**1:27 PM PST**

'Where is she?'

The entire lobby froze; this time they were not very surprised by the large man storming off of the elevator yelling.

'Where is Carissa, people? Where did she go?'

'Ummm, sir, she is on her lunch break,' the young assistant stuttered.

Charles glared at her. 'Well, then, where does she eat her lunch?'

'N-normally in the break room, but today she seemed a bit stressed, so she probably headed to her car. Carissa thinks we cannot find her there.'

'Fine,' he ground out as he charged out of the building.

He was halfway across the courtyard before he realized that his demeanor might have been construed as rude. _Such is life… they'll get over it._ _Where does she park? I dropped her off on level… three Monday after our trip to the hospital. Wow, that was interesting… she is a story in contrasts… rather fascinating. Focus, Charles, focus._

He took the stairs by twos, arriving on the third level in seconds. His eyes scanned the vehicles as soon as he arrived. _Her car is red… some kind of compact. Why was I not paying better attention on Monday? Think about that later, Dewey. There it is._

'Carissa… Carissa…' She did not move. 'Carissa!'

He tried the door handle; it did not budge. _Well, enough of this…_ Cocking his elbow in Carissa's 'self-defense' move, he broke through the rear window. The sickly sweet smell of nitrous oxide hit him immediately.

_Crap! I have got to get her out of there._ He attempted to use the inside latch; nothing again. Ripping off his suit jacket, he laid it over the knocked out rear window frame. _This should be interesting… how am I going to…?_

He leaned into the car and reached for the driver's seat controls, tipping back Carissa, and her chair, as far as they would go. He grasped the woman under her arms and began to lift her out of the opening. Once she was close to the edge, he tucked his left arm under her knees and lifted her to his chest, thankful to feel her slow warm breath on his neck. Pulling her closer, he made his way toward the exit.

Her breathing became more ragged, and then stopped. Charles froze. He waited one second, two; her breathing did not start again.

Dropping to his knees in the middle of the parking garage, he laid her gently to the floor and attempted to clear her airway while reaching for his cell phone. Without realizing the need, he had moved far enough away from Carissa's vehicle to get a signal. Jess answered on the first ring.

'Charles, where are you?'

He was out of breath with worry. 'Parking… garage… level… three… need… rescue… found…' He dropped his phone as Carissa shook lightly and then gasped. He held her head steady and stroked her blonde hair lightly. 'Everything is okay now, Carissa. I found you… thank goodness, I found you. Just breathe for me, please… just breathe. Who… why…' He stopped himself. Now was not the time for questions, those would come later; right now, he just needed this beautiful frustrating meddling woman to breathe for him and open her eyes.

Jess found them five minutes later; Charles was still kneeling at Carissa's side.


	33. Chapter 33

**Wednesday, April 1, 2008; 5:45 PM EST; MDPD Crime Lab**

'Ry, this is getting ridiculous; he is attacking both coasts. My goodness, you and Eric were up to your ankles in green jell-o and a murdered teenager today because of him and my department assistant is hospitalized after being unconscious for twenty minutes due to nitrous oxide poisoning.' Jess sighed deeply. 'Every time I think I have him figured out, Jacob Evans surpasses my nightmares about him.'

Ryan tapped his fingers on the metal table in front of him. 'J, you know we are going to get him, right?' He waited several seconds for a response. 'Come on, girl…'

'Yes… yes, I know that, Ry.'

'Okay, so now we work together to solve both of our new cases. Do you have all of the evidence collected from Carissa's car yet?'

'Ummm, yes… why? What are you thinking?'

'I am thinking that Jacob would have saved himself a lot of trouble if he attached similar MOs to both crime scenes. We know that he has not been in Florida yet, so this may give us some insight into his known associates and the areas that he is most likely to return to when he does arrive.'

'I like how you think, Mr. Wolfe. Is all of your evidence in?'

Ryan smiled, only Horatio and Jess called him Mr. Wolfe. With Horatio, it was the only name he could remember being called; with Jess, it was a term of endearment. He liked that. 'Eric is just logging in the last of it. The only thing left after that is the autopsy report from Alexx. Can your lab facilitate a video conference? It might help if we could see each other's evidence.'

'Yeah, we can do it; I will need about an hour to get it set up in Layout though. Will that work?'

'You bet kiddo. Hey, are you feeling okay about this now?' He heard papers rustling and a box being opened in the background.

Jess cupped the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she began to organize her evidence. 'Uh-huh… sorry, Ry. Yes, I am all set; we are going to get this guy good!'

They both laughed.

'Okay, then video conference in an hour. You can meet some of the team over here and we will talk again then. Bye, J.'

'Bye, Ry.' She placed the evidence bag in her hands on the table before snagging her cell phone from her shoulder. She dialed.

'_A/V Lab, this is Meg speaking. What can I do for you?'_

'Hi, Meg, this is CSI Mitchell. Could you possibly get a video conference set up for me in Layout in, say, under an hour?'

'_Well, ma'am, you are in luck; we usually require two days notice to get one of these things going. It is a slow day around here and I will be up to you in five minutes to set it up.'_

'Thanks, Meg. I really appreciate it; I will see you in a few minutes.' She closed her phone and sighed. This was going to work; it had to.


	34. Chapter 34

**Wednesday, April 1, 2008; 9:36 PM EST, Miami-Dade Crime Lab**

Horatio took a deep breathe and slowly moved a tired hand through his hair. No matter how fatigued he was, sleep would not be restful if it came at all, so going home was pointless. Instead he eased himself from the confines of his office chair and headed out to scan his porch-like view of the lab.

The architects of the Miami-Dade Lab had been gifted with federal funding courtesy of Natalia Boa Vista, one time 'informant' to the FBI, leading to a state-of-the-art architectural design and lab equipment. The glass walls gave some visitors the impression of a gigantic fishbowl, but to Horatio they provided an invaluable view of the inner workings of his lab and his team. They were the best and **he** was their leader.

Now as he stood at the railing, most of the suites had been dimmed for the evening (the night shift working in several of their own spaces just out of the Lieutenant's sight). Surprisingly, though, the Layout room glowed brightly, casting odd shadows into the darkened hallways.

_Interesting._ Ever the investigator, he strode down the stairs, stopping just outside the lab's doorway. Hands perched on his hips, he silently observed.

**

Ryan was glad for the hour that Jess had given him before the video conference. He wanted to have something more than a list of evidence to offer her. Samples of the "green jello" identified at the scene had turned out, in fact, to be... _of course, lime jello. It couldn't have been something more definitive, could it?_ Print analysis of both the fire protection system access and the malfunctioning fire exit door had led to the school janitor, Rodrigo Dominguez, and several smudges of unknown origin. _Of course, it is a high school and these smudges could have come from anywhere._ A cell phone had been found on the hall floor near the emergency exit, the owner still unidentified. _Likely the teenage boy that was killed. I need to find his name... J will kill me if I start referring to him as "the victim." Now, where is that autopsy file?_

Looking up from his work in search of Dr. Alexx Woods autopsy report, Ryan spied his boss out of the corner of his eye. He turned his gaze to make full eye contact and waved his hand to invite the man in.

_Does Horatio ever go off duty?_ He purposefully left his speculation for later.

'H, what are you doing here? I-I mean, what can I help you with?' he stumbled slightly as he realized his brief social blunder.

The older man tipped his head and smiled slightly. 'Mr. Wolfe, I could ask you the same questions. Anything I can do for you?'

Ryan smiled at the sound of his last name. 'I wish you would, H. Jess - I mean, CSI Mitchell - and I are going to video conference about our two Evans cases in a few minutes. I was hoping to be able to offer her more than a list of our evidence, especially the name of the victim. She would appreciate at least that much.'

Lt. Caine reached across the table before them and slipped a manilla file from the bottom of a stack, recognizing Alexx's handwriting immediately. Handing Ryan the file, he straightened himself to his full six feet and stated simply, 'Let's see what there is.'

**8:40 PM CST, Somewhere in the desert of Texas**

He had to sleep and that much was obvious. He was still ahead of schedule to arrive in Miami before the woman CSI, for now that was enough.

Today had been fulfilling even if he had been unable to witness the beauty himself. R2-D2, one of his cohorts from the old days, was still as compliant and dumb as ever, willingly carrying out Jacob's instructions for the high school in Miami. The timed devices that he had designed for San Diego had also worked flawlessly. Listening to the whimpers of Blonde Secretary and the panic in Tall Man's voices had sent chills up his spine. All was left now was to wonder how long it would take them to connect all of the dots. Oh, he had wanted them to know it was him behind all of the mayhem, but he hoped that it would take some time for them to figure out the "how" aspect of the crimes.

Parked out in the desert, his driver's chair tipped back, Jacob smiled to the awakening stars as he reflected on his apparent triumphs.


	35. Chapter 35

**Thursday, April 2, 2008; 5:58 AM PST, San Diego Crime Lab break room**

Jess' senses were stirred by two things as she dozed on the break room couch - one the smell of fresh coffee, the other a sense that she was being watched. The first pulled her slowly out of her sleep-induced haze, while the second had her reaching slowly for her sidearm conveniently tucked under her pillow.

'C'mon, Jess, you do not need the gun, you need the coffee. Wake up,' Charles stated in a clearly fatigued voice from a chair near the coffee pot.

Hearing a familiar voice, she relaxed slightly and gave herself permission to wake a bit more slowly. 'Up late,' she muttered tiredly.

'Me, too. Now get up and fill me in. I want to catch this SOB just as much as you do.'

She knew he was right. It was only fair to share the discoveries that she had made with Horatio and Ryan last night - _in all honesty_, she thought, _it really was this morning_. Giving in, she raised herself to sit, her head lolling against the back of the couch. 'Okay... I'm up. Could I please have some coffee first?'

Charles smiled knowingly. _The woman cannot think without her caffeine._ 'Skip the coffee, Jess; I brought you a Cubano.'

Jess heard him rise and start across the room; she cracked one eye to see if he was teasing her. _Nope. Real Cubano._ 'Nice touch, Charles. You look awful... did you sleep at all last night?' _Manners are for people who are awake; if anyone asks, that's my excuse._

'Gee, thanks. I slept on and off in a hospital chair, if you must know. Now drink.'

'Yes, sir,' she answered flippantly.

The coworkers and companions sipped their strong beverages slowly and silently, each immersed in their own thoughts as they waited for the drinks to have their desired effect.

**

Charles returned to his chair to continue his morning routine and sideways observation of CSI Mitchell. _She is so much what I wanted. Smart, shy, focused, pretty... she brings out the protector in me. Why did I spend last night by Carissa's bedside then? Why do I fight with her and goad her into arguments? _His shoulders shook in a silent chuckle, knowing exactly what his motivations were. He was intrigued, fascinated and drawn into the passion of the SDPD department assistant. Where others inherently accepted his position of authority, she questioned it, bucked it. And where Jess was shy, Carissa was sassy and bold. _Beautiful, also, Dewey; don't forget beautiful. _He knew that he would still follow through on this case, protect Jessica, prevent Jacob Evans from doing any further harm, but she was like... _what is she like? I want to protect her, take care of her and in some ways I love her, but what does that mean? _It hit him like a lightening bolt - _I love her like my sister, my kid sister._ His stomach turned slightly at the realization that he had only now discovered how to read himself. _Idiot! Who can't tell the difference between brotherly love and romantic love??? What a dork, Dewey! Grow up!_

**

Oblivious to her place in his thoughts, Jess accepted the federal agent's companionship and caffeine resources, cautiously sipping the piping hot liquid. _Liquid gold... that is what they should have called it._ After her fifth swallow, she opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling, replaying her video conference with Ryan and his boss. _That had been unexpected, seeing another man there with Ryan and not knowing who he was immediately. _Of course, she did not know the Miami team, so expecting herself to identify the redhead was unreasonable. _He was... goodness, what is the word I am looking for? _She sighed lightly as the words came to her - _an authoritative enigma and entirely to attractive for my own good. I have not stuttered and stumbled my way through evidence in weeks. It was like my breath left me when I realized that he was the Horatio - my Horatio. _She could only begin to imagine what the powerful Lieutenant thought of her stumbling analyses. If only she could replay the entire evening, not that any of it could likely change. _I sound like some distressed damsel from a romance novel... dreadful and unacceptable. Snap out of it, Jessica Elle Mitchell! _She only used her full name in her private lectures on truly serious matters. _Lieutenant Horatio Caine is definitely a deeply serious matter._

**

'Okay, time's up, Jess. Tell me what you found.'

She directed an entirely ineffective glare in Charles' direction. He smiled in return. 'Fine. So, here is the summary. Please do not interrupt me with questions until I am finished - it will just add to the confusion.'

He nodded briskly.

'You know the basics of the Miami case - high school, fire in the Chem lab, green jello in the sprinklers, jammed fire escape door and one dead teenager. Turns out the child did not even attend this high school.' She glanced at the ceiling reviewing the file in her head, searching for his name. 'Adrian Rodriguez, that's his name. Parents have been difficult to track down, but Ryan is going to restart the search this morning. On our end,' she continued, 'we found cell phone triggered timers attached to almost all electrical systems in Carissa's vehicle. The nitrous oxide was mounted behind the spare tire in the trunk.'

'What about -' She glared at him, willing him to let her continue her monologue.

'The timers for both occurrences were eerily similar - like they were designed by one person, but built by two. All calls to the timers, the prank calls to Reception and the call to Lieutenant Caine from Jacob Evans all originated in Texas, but we have not been able to track it down any more specifically than that. If he calls again, we may be able to get a better lock on his location. The concensus last night is that he is moving toward Miami and he will likely beat me there on Saturday. Okay, now you can ask me questions, Charles.'


	36. Chapter 36

**Thursday, April 2, 2008; 9:05 AM EST, Steps of Miami-Dade Crime Lab**

'Mr. Wolfe, a moment please.'

Ryan was coming in from an early morning call-out to a hit and run. Between Eric and himself, it would not take long to process the evidence and discover the guilty SUV driver. He had been musing distractedly over last night's investigation with Jess, when his boss' voice interrupted his thoughts. 'Sure, H. What's up?'

'I have a question for you about last night.'

Having known and admired Horatio for several years had slowly educated Ryan in the art of interpretting the older man's moods. The tilt of his head, the slow toying of his hands with his sunglasses, the turn of his hips away from the conversation... it all indicated that his boss was interested, very interested. He crossed his arms, prepared for whatever the Lieutenant might need to know, and nodded.

'About CSI Mitchell - Jessica.' He glanced down at his hands. 'What can you tell me about her? She seemed nervous last night.'

The young investigator supressed the grin that was fighting its way to the surface. _Horatio interested in Jess. Why not?_ 'Well, H, last night was unusual for her. J... she is quiet, reserved, but not like she came across during our video conference. She is an awesome investigator; sharp, observant and she puts her whole heart into each investigation. It is hard for her to leave a case at home - well, in this instance I suppose that is to be expected.'

Both men laughed lightly.

'Listen, H, I am not really sure what you are looking for me to say here.'

Horatio slipped his sunglasses back on. 'Mr. Wolfe, that is enough for right now. I may have more questions for you later, okay?'

Ryan chuckled lightly, 'Yeah, H, whatever you need to know.' He turned to head back into the building, assuming that the almost inaudible _thank you_ behind him was just his imagination.

**9:26 AM**

Frank Tripp double checked the case file with the information on his computer screen, trying to keep his jaw from dropping uncharacteristicly. Dialing CSI Wolfe's number, he leaned back casually in his chair.

'This is Wolfe.'

'Wolfe, Tripp. Got that parent tracked down for you, but you are not going to believe it.'

'Trust me, Frank, with Jacob Evans' case there is not a thing I would not believe. What do you have?'

The Detective shifted toward his desk again. 'Prove me wrong, then, kid. The teenager, Adrian Rodriguez - his mother has been dead since 1999, but the father is another story entirely.'

'Okay, do we have the father's name?'

'Yeah, Domingo Rodriguez.' He paused dramatically.

Ryan waited for the punchline. 'So...'

'Come on, Wolfe! You do not find it at all suspicious that the name of father just happens to be the reverse of the name of the janitor of the high school - Rodrigo Dominguez?'

'Oh, man.' Settling his elbow on the table, the investigator leaned his head into his hand. 'Any possibility we can get a warrant to search the residence, Frank?'

'Already on it, kid. Sending the address to you now. Meet you there in an hour with the warrant, okay?'

**9:28 AM EST; Rodriguez Residence to Texas-Louisiana State Border**

'You - you say you are my friend and yet you killed my son?' yelled Domingo over the line. His son's absence at dinner the night before had not been unusual; missing breakfast and then the bus to school had been another step entirely. Watching the morning news about the incident at Miami High where he worked had lead him to this pain filled phone call.

'R2-D2, calm down. Your kid made his own choices; he knew what he wanted in this life. I was offering him the world - he just screwed up his end of the deal,' stated Jacob, a deadly calm invading his voice. Under his breath he muttered, 'not unlike his father, if I do recall.'

'His end of the deal? You call involving my boy in this escapade 'a deal'? What I do for you, it does not involve my son - it should NEVER have involved the boy. Jay, you, me, we are through. No more. You will not destroy me any longer. If they come, this time you will not have my protection.'

Domingo Rodriguez disconnected the call and made a choice. He had lived more than half of his life as Domingo Rodriguez, trying to make a way for his family, his son. Losing his wife had almost crushed that ambition and now he had allowed Jacob Evans to enter in again, destroying his known world. When they came (and he knew they would come - Caine would find him), he would face Rodrigo Dominguez, the man his heart had obviously always been... the criminal, the accomplice. The man who was a husband, a father died today, laid to rest as his son was prepared for his burial.


	37. Chapter 37

**Thursday, April 2, 2008; 12:01 PM PST, A Cafe in Downtown San Diego**

After an excited call from Ryan followed by a quick fax from MDPD, Jess had decided that her escort "team" and Agent Dewey deserved a cubano break. _Well, the Team might not appreciate it as much as Charles and I will,_ she laughed to herself, as she waited for her second steaming cup of the day to be delivered to their table. She had not informed Charles of the purpose for this meeting in advance, deciding instead to let him wonder a little.

'We got one,' she stated simply.

The two police escorts and the federal agents quickly looked to her, then allowed their eyes to scan the room.

'Not here, sillies. There.'

Blank stares greeted her this time around.

'Jess, you are not making a bit of sense. Where is there and how did we get one of whatever it is?' Charles asked incredulously.

This time she laughed aloud. 'There is Miami; the _one_ is an accomplice of Jacob Evans. My understanding is that one of their detectives, a Det. Frank Tripp, figured out who he was. Ryan and Lt. Caine faxed me Mr. Dominguez's confession just under one hour ago, along with copies of the trigger design for the Miami High incident.'

Federal agents are never supposed to be dumb-struck; this one was. The escort officers were just impressed with one of them stating quietly, 'Who gets a confession that quickly? Must have different techniques over in Miami.' The second officer laughed.

'For your information,' Jess virtually growled at the chuckling offender, 'the suspect opened the door to the officers serving a search warrant on his house with his confession prewritten in his hand. The only thing _my friends_ in Miami had to do was ask a few questions to verify and clarify his statement in interrogation. Ryan was pretty pleased with himself, claims that Horat- I mean, Lt. Caine - even called him by his first name afterward.' She blushed lightly and looked down at her mug.

'Well... did you bring it, _Detective "My Friends in Miami"_?'

Jess fully ignored the sing-song tone in his voice as she slid a manilla folder across the table. Inside, Agent Dewey found one full type written page, signed, dated and sealed.

**

**Certified statement by Mr. Rodrigo Dominguez**

**Verified by Lieutenant Horatio Caine, CSI Ryan Wolfe and Detective Frank Tripp**

**RE: Fire/Property Damage Incident at Miami High School, Death of Minor Adrian Dominguez & Involvement of Mr. Jacob Evans**

I, Rodrigo Dominguez, hereby swear that this statement is full and complete truth concerning the plans and events of April 1, 2008 at Miami High School.

I have been acquainted with Jay - Jacob Evans - since his childhood and was involved in several criminal activities with him in the late nineties and early 2000s. This criminal activity culminated in my arrest and conviction on charges related to a 2002 armored vehicle robbery. Jacob Evans was the planner, coordinator and lead man on this heist. As previously determined by all of those involved in the robbery, Jay was never implicated by any of us for his involvement in this event.

Two weeks ago I was approached by Jay to assist in the execution of a prank type event at my former place of employment, Miami High School. He sent drawings of a timed device that my teenage son, Adrian, and I built together. I involved my son under the guise of a father-son activity and had no intention of his further connection to the incident once the device was built. Jay instructed me to attach the timer to the fire sprinkler and alarm systems at MHS. He also informed me that another _colleague _of his would take care of the rest of the details. I followed his instructions exactly as given.

On April 1, 2008, the event at MHS took place. I realized immediately that my timed device had been instrumental in its execution, but was entirely unaware of the connected death. Upon the realization that my son, Adrian, was missing and that a young Latino boy fitting his description had died in the incident, I called Jay - I mean, Mr. Jacob Evans - to confront him about my son's death and involvement. He told me that my son had _"screwed up his end of the deal"_. I do not know what my son was supposed to do to assist Jay.

It was never my intention to injure anyone by participating in this activity, most certainly not my son Adrian. I am truly sorry for the damage that I have caused to the students of MHS and the city of Miami. Mostly I am sad that my son is gone. I wish that I had had the courage to tell the truth about Jay's illegal activities long before it ever came to this.

I have attached all the written communication that I have received from Jacob Evans to this statement.

SIGNED: _Rodrigo Dominguez_

Date: April 2, 2008

Received and Verified by: _Horatio Caine, Lieutenant MDPD_

**

'Wow.'

Jess sat back in her cafe chair, sipping her cubano as Charles read the Dominguez statement. 'I know, right? It is amazing.' Her smile grew. 'I cannot wait to get to Miami. Catching Evans is going to be the highlight of my year - gracious, it will probably be the highlight of my career.'

'You know you have more to offer law enforcement than just this one case, right, Jess?' _This is big, but not THAT big, is it not?_ The agent was a little shocked by her excited, yet resigned tone.

'Yeah, yeah. I know. But, honestly, can it really get any better than this? I hate to think that the rest of my time as a detective will be a downhill slide from this point. That is not a lot to look forward to, is it?' She released a breathy sigh. 'But enough of that. Are you ready for Miami? I cannot believe that we will be there in three days to catch this ass!'

He looked down at his paper mug. Glancing sideways at Jess' bodyguards, he dismissed them to the other side of the room with a nod.

'Charles?' she questioned, her voice growing smaller.

'Ummm... yeah... Jess, about Miami...'

'Oh, no. Do not give me an _oh, about Miami_. You promised me that we would catch this guy... you promised, Charles.' Her voice was barely a whisper as she said the last words.

_I am actually dying inside; better yet, I think she is going to kill me. How do I explain this one? You can not just say to a woman "I was planning on helping you catch a murderer who just happens to be stalking you, but here's the thing, along the way I just happened to fall in love with your receptionist who is in the hospital because of..." Well, if I am going to say it, I certainly cannot finish that sentence with YOU. She would really kill me if I did that - and she knows how to hide the body!!!_

'Jess, here's the thing - Carissa...'

She held up her hand, her eyes glued to the deep chocolate colored liquid in her mug. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she stated simply, 'Oh. I see. No worries. I will just see you later this afternoon to go over the case details that I will need to take with me to Miami. I am briefing Ryan and Lt. Caine at six o'clock Eastern time, so if you could see me by two-thirty today I would really appreciate it.'

The CSI rose, leaving Charles to stare wide-eyed at her retreating form, her bodyguards falling into place at her sides. She never even glanced backward.

**Thursday, April 2, 2008; 2:16 PM PST; SDPD Headquarters Layout Room**

He watched as she rearranged piles of evidence and chuckled lightly. _She'll never remember where she's put everything for her conference._ Realizing how conspicuous he looked, staring so fixedly into one of the labs, he knocked lightly on the door with his apology on his lips.

'Jess, look, I - ', he started.

She swept a brief glance toward the sound of his voice before returning to her stacks. 'Agent Dewey, thank you for being prompt in arriving. I just need you to review the case reports on the two attacks on me and Carissa's incident... make sure that I have all of the details in order. That's - that's it, then you can go back to DHS or... well, whatever.'

'Jess, look at me please. I'll take a look at the evidence, just talk to me first. I'm sorry I'm not going to Miami with you.'

'It's not your job, Ag - Charles. None of this was.'

'I'm still sorry I'm not going and you can't get rid of me that easily. We work together, okay?'

The CSI looked at him sideways, then sighed. 'Sorry about my reaction, Charles... it's just...'

'I know, Jess. I know.' He bumped his shoulder into hers and smiled. 'Now let's look at these reports, okay?'

And she finally laughed.


End file.
